By Merlin Tuttle
3/2/21
Given overall warming trends, we weren’t surprised to see some 70 to 80° F days in January and February of 2021. But that hardly tells the full story!
Beginning on February 10th, historically low temperatures were recorded across Texas. For eight consecutive days (February 10–18), the temperature hovered between 37° and 9° F with six inches of snow on the ground in Austin, Texas. The first reasonable feeding opportunity for bats likely didn’t occur before the 21st.
The last similar event occurred 32 years ago in 1989. In a 9-day period (December 16–24) the daily temperature ranged from 51 to 4° F but remained below freezing for only two days versus seven in 2021. Fewer people were concerned in those days, but at least hundreds of killed bats were reported.
The recent event, Winter Storm Uri, created a disaster for overwintering Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis). Encouraged by warming trends, more and more bats have remained in their summer roosts year-round instead of migrating south for winter. In recent years, hundreds of thousands have overwintered in bridge crevices of Central Texas, especially in the Austin area. Additionally, over the last four decades, an estimated 1,000 more annually have remained in Bracken Cave.
Unlike many other temperate-zone bats, Austin’s free-tails are not true hibernators. They do store fat in the fall and can survive for more than six weeks without feeding when roosting at 41° F. In Central Texas, they emerge and successfully feed when evening temperatures are 50° F or above, and in traditional winters they seldom would need to wait more than 10 days between feedings.
To survive for eight days with average temperatures well below freezing would be an extreme challenge. Bats have the largest surface area per volume of any warm-blooded animal, and active free-tails maintain body temperatures of roughly 102° F. Following the recent weather crisis, just warming up to go hunting was undoubtedly prohibitive for many, and it’s difficult to imagine that the insects the bats depend on for food would have been immediately abundant. Even though daytime temperatures averaged 78° F over four consecutive days beginning on February 21st.
Many concerned Austinites wondered why accumulations of dead and dying bats steadily grew through at least the 25th, despite the return to warm weather. The answer is two-fold. Many bats likely were still alive but too weakened to go hunting. Some of those may take a week or more to die. Also, those that literally froze to death could take weeks to fall from their roosting crevices. Tendons in their toes are designed to automatically lock the bats’ claws firmly to the roosting crevice until consciously released. Thus, a bat may hang in place long after its death
