Bat habitat initiative to launch in Philadelphia

Daniel Flinchbaugh (left), Penn Facilities and Real Estate Services assistant landscape planner and Nick Tanner(right), Penn undergraduate, with a nearly finished bat box in the Weitzman School of Design Fabrication Lab (image courtesy of John Donges/University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine)

To help support the local bat populations in the Philadelphia area, the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) Wildlife Futures Program (WFP) are facilitating the design and building of a collection of wooden bat boxes. The boxes will be installed in campus parks to help support the needs and health of bats.

According to the organizational release, Penn Vet’s WFP is working in collaboration with Penn Sustainability and Penn Facilities and Real Estate Services to combat the population decline within the urban ecosystem of Philadelphia by providing these bats with a safe breeding environment. Five wooden boxes, that can fit up to 200 bats each, were created at the Weitzman School of Design Fabrication Lab and will be placed through the campus to give these bats a place for breeding, maternity roosting, and hibernation.¹

“Bats are so ecologically important. They eat mosquitoes and insects that negatively impact agricultural production, and several bat species worldwide serve as important pollinators,” explained Julie Ellis, BS, MS, PhD, co-director of the WFP.¹ “But in urban ecosystems, bats often do not have access to safe places to form breeding colonies and raise their young. As a result, they end up living in buildings or in the attics of people’s houses, from which they are usually quickly evicted. Our bat boxes are designed to mimic tree habitat and support the daily needs and overall health of bats.”

Because of white-nose syndrome (WNS), a fungal disease that is killing bats in North America,² the bat population in Pennsylvania has been on a sharp decline since 2008. WNS presents as white fuzz on the face of bats, giving it its name, and affects hibernating bats. For little brown bats like those in Philadelphia, their population has declined more than 90% leading to it becoming an endangered species.

In the springtime, bats arrive back in Philadelphia to mate and reproduce before moving to a different geographical area through the year. For this fall, Kaskey Park will be home to a portion of the bat boxes and several boxes will then be installed in Penn Park early 2025. These locations were selected because they are located on the established bat migratory pathway along the Schuylkill River. In spring 2025, the local bat population will gain access to the new maternity spaces to birth and raise their young.

References

1. Ware C. Penn Vet’s Wildlife Futures Program launches habitat initiative for Philadelphia bats | Penn Today. Penn Today. Published October 22, 2024. Accessed October 25, 2024. https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/penn-vets-wildlife-futures-program-launches-habitat-initiative-philadelphia-bats
2. What Is White-nose Syndrome? White Nose Syndrome Response Team. Published 2019. Accessed October 25, 2024. https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/static-page/what-is-white-nose-syndrome