"When nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Little Brown Bat: Status: Declining Population: No information About the Little Brown Bat: The Little Brown Bat is a type of microbat that has glossy brown fur (it could be red, golden, or black as well). It is about 3-5 inches long, with females being larger than males. Wingspans are 8-11 inches. Common lifespans are 6-7 years.
The Little Brown Bat is at risk due to White-Nose Syndrome, a previously unknown disease discovered in 2006. White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) is a fungus that has a mortality rate of nearly 100% (many more details about this disease can be found on the page attached to this, and the zone of spread in North America can be seen below) In addition, the Little Brown Bat has an extremely low breeding rate of one pup per female. While WNS is the main threat to these bats, other factors in their endangerment is the pesticide problem, where the chemicals build up in the bats' bodies, eventually killing them, and habitat destruction, which destroys trees that bats depend on both for living in after coming out of hibernation and for raising their pups.
Little Brown Bats are typically found around lakes and streams where insects are abundant. (As bats have extremely high metabolisms, they consume their body weight in bugs every night, and hence need reliable sources of food.) They mainly roost in caves of several hundred or thousand bats, or may inhabit trees and buildings.
These bats have WNS
Breeding season for Little Brown Bats begins in August, and pups appear about two months later. A female will only birth one pup a year. Within a month, the pups are able to fly and feed themselves.
Sources: National Wildlife Federation. "Little Brown Bat." NWF. 1996-2015. NWF. Web. 3 March 2015.