A Batty Place to Sleep

An abandoned graphite mine in the Adirondacks is home to 200,000 hibernating bats for the winter

Story by Max Galanty

It is the time of the year when you break out your box of Halloween decorations and make your home look as spooky as possible. It is the time of year when the sun goes down early, and the nighttime puts goosebumps on your arms. It is the time when the witches are flying on their broomsticks and ghosts are up and about. What about the bats though? The bats are actually asleep.

Although bats are almost synonymous with Halloween, they hibernate for the cold part of the year. 200,000 bats of various species hibernate in a bat hibernaculum in Warren County in the Adirondacks.

Hibernacula are winter quarters for hibernating bats, and in this case it is located in an abandoned graphite mine. The exact location of the Adirondack hibernacula is not shared with the public because it is preferred that the bats remain undisturbed. Scientists that go in to the mine to conduct research never enter without taking the proper precautions. They bring lights inside, leave people standing by outside, and they have rabies shots available in case of a bite.

“200,000 bats of various species hibernate in a bat hibernacula in Warren County in the Adirondacks.”

The conditions inside the cave are extremely dark, the footing is dangerous, and the roof is caving in at some spots. The mine is also on private property, which is another reason why its whereabouts are not divulged.

To further protect this habitat, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in collaboration with the Landowner Incentive Program, repaired gates at the entrances of the hibernacula. This process was expensive and time-consuming, but it is important. The gates keep out people and big animals. Though raccoons have been found there before, they are no danger to the bats. The steel structures allow for air circulation and they don't interrupt the natural respiration of the caves, which shouldn't be altered for the safety of the bats.

Of the 200,000 bats colonizing the cave, 200 are Indiana bats, a small bat that is on the endangered species list. “One of the reasons why the Indiana bat is endangered is because of the efforts of humans to conserve them,” said Dean of Arts and Sciences at Plattsburgh State University College, Dr. Kathleen Lavoie. The Indiana bats stay together in tight clusters, this makes any interference a big concern. They also have a low reproduction rate of one baby each per year. “In 1975 there were 450,000 Indiana bats, by 1993 there were 350,000,” Lavoie said.

The Indiana bats and the other 180,000 in the Adirondack hibernacula are there because it has a constant low temperature, which ranges from low to mid 40 degrees Fahrenheit regardless of the season. Every few days they fly around the cave, but their goal is to reduce their body temperature and minimize energy use; The bats have a hard time finding bugs in the harsh winter of the Adirondacks and therefore remain metabolically inactive during this time. If people were to disturb the bats they could potentially kill them.

“There are fairly well publicized cases where researchers have gone in and found they [the bats] died because they were stirred up,” said Marcelo DelPuerto, biologist for the DEC.

The LICP, with some additional funding protects the hibernacula, making sure that the conditions are livable. “There are seven or eight big hibernacula that we protect and monitor. We know them well because we've been studying them for 30 years,” said DelPuerto.

The graphite mine in the Adirondacks was once the source of graphite for the Ticonderoga pencil company. There are two other important sites in the Adirondacks, one in Syracuse, another in Watertown, and one in the Hudson Valley area. If it weren't for these hibernacula the bats would have a hard time surviving throughout the winter.

Have you ever had a close encounter with bats? Tell us about it.

Six species found in the Adirondacks

• Indiana bat (Mytosis sodalis), an endangered species of bat, hibernates in groups of up to 300 in as little as a square foot of space
• Big Brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus P. de Beavois), the largest bat in the Adirondacks
• Little Brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), 500 Little Brown bats could eat up to 250,000 insects in one hour
• Small Footed bat (Myotis leibii), hibernates individually or in small clusters of about 25 to 30 by the mouth of an abandoned mine or cave, where the temperature is near freezing
• Red bat (Lasiurus borealis), migrate to warmer climates in the winter
• Hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus), get their name because at the tip of their brown fur is a white frosting
• Silver Haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagan),have a distinct orange colored fur behind each ear