Merlin Tuttle

“My trap consisted of two six-by-five aluminum frames with hundreds of vertical fishing lines strung between them. It looked like a harp, but with adjustable legs to support it a few feet off the ground and a canvas bag hanging below to hold captured bats. This device, which I had recently invented, was capable of catching thousands of bats per night, enabling me to sample and release large numbers without harming them.”

“Bats are among the few true hibernators. The breathing of a hibernating bat is imperceptible. Its heartbeat drops from roughly 400 beats per minute when awake to about 25 in hibernation. The body temperature often falls to within a tenth of a degree of surrounding cave walls.”

“It's very simple: We fear most what we understand the least.”

“Populations of some North American insectivorous bats are known to have declined markedly in many areas over the past 20 years or more ... The causes and rates or extent of decline rarely are well documented.”