This University Goes to Bat For Thousands of Winged Residents - bat condo on University of Florida campus

National Wildlife, Oct-Nov, 1998 by Adele Conover

With its legendary football team, the Gators, the University of Florida draws hundreds of thousands of fans every year. But lately another spectator sport has been attracting people to the university's Gainesville campus.

Wildlife watchers have been flocking to the university to see thousands of Brazilian free-tailed bats, which live in one of the largest human-made bat houses in the United States. The large bat colony not only draws animal lovers, but it helps protect Gators fans and other people on campus from mosquito bites.

Brazilian free-tails and their close relatives, Mexican free-tails, are found from the southern United States to northern South America. The creatures, which have a wingspan of 10 to 12 inches and weigh about as much as two nickels, traditionally roosted in hollow trees and caves. But as forests disappeared, the creatures turned to roosting in buildings, under bridges and in precast concrete-block structures such as stadiums--a natural alternative with their bat-size cubby holes and insect-attracting bright lights. Bats have long been a part of life at the University of Florida, but the saga of the bat condo began in 1987 when a 1,000-member bat colony fled its burning home in an old building on campus. The creatures quickly relocated to the university's then brand-new Percy Beard Track and Field Complex and Scott Linder Stadium (a tennis facility), where their numbers increased to 3,800.

The bats' swooping flights over the stadium during evening events disturbed sports fans. And the odor of the creatures' musklike secretions caught the attention of Bob Martinez, then Florida's governor, who was attending a summer track-and-field meet for high-school athletes. He reportedly asked school officials, "What's that smell?"

"When the governor made a stink about the stink, the University Athletic Association [UAA] had to do something," says biologist William Kern Jr., of the university's Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation.

Building the big bat house was the brainchild of biologist Jackie Belwood, who was conducting a postdoctoral entomology study on campus at the time. "When Jackie came to us with her idea," says Danny Sheldon, assistant athletic director for facilities and operations, "I said, 'Right--like the UAA will really spring for this.'"

But eradicating the bats was out of the question. Although Brazilian free-tails are not an endangered or threatened species, they are protected as a nongame species under Florida law. So, Athletic Director Jeremy Foley noted, "we had to do the right thing."

A 20-by-20-foot bat house was designed by Florida architect Bill Hunter, who also designs other animal dwellings, including comfy racehorse stables for Arab sheiks. The bat house was built for $20,000 in 1991 on campus near the northwest corner of Lake Alice, a long pass from the university's stadiums. It can accommodate 200,000 bats--more individuals than the school's football stadium, which seats 83,000 people.

The bat condo resembles a fishing cottage on stilts. It stands on five 18-foot poles to give the bats drop distance for takeoff. "They need a wingful of air to get going," says the university's pest-control manager, entomologist Ken Glover. It also sports a heat-reflecting tin roof and a slatted floor so the bats can come and go at their leisure.

After the bat house was completed, it was carpeted with guano to rid it of that "new house" smell, notes Belwood. Then Marshall Hanks of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, one of the country's premier bat movers, took over. Hanks trapped about 3,000 of the bats in boxes fashioned of wood and cloth as the creatures flew out of their roosts on the night of September 24, 1991. He took the bats to their new home the following morning and released them in the attic. They stayed in the house during the day, but that night they took off like, well, bats out of hell.

Two long years went by and no bat graced the bat pad. Having spent a bundle on the bat house, the UAA "kept a low profile," said Foley. The athletic director also pondered creative ways to recoup the UAA's investment. "Perhaps we could get some students to move in up there," he said.

Early in 1993, however, 18 male bats arrived for a short visit. A year later, 300 more males moved in temporarily. Then in February 1995, about 1,000 females settled in the bat house. By April, 3,000 bats were in residence. A month later, the population increased again after hundreds of baby bats were born.

By May 1998, 60,000 to 70,000 bats (including a few hundred southeastern and evening bats) were calling the Gatorland bat condo home. And these campus residents were eating as many as 60 million pesky insects (weighing an estimated 1,500 pounds) every night. "We don't bother spraying anymore," says Glover. "Our bats provide pest control."

Florida athletic officials are feeling much better about their investment in moving and housing the creatures. "They no longer roost in our stadiums and I can guarantee that not many people get bitten by mosquitos around here anymore," says Sheldon. "And now they're drawing Gators football fans a day before a game so they can watch the evening bat show."