GRAY BAT 



My Otis grisescens (Howell) 



KINGDOM Animalia 



CLASS Mammalia 



ORDER Chiroptera 



FAMILY Vespertilionidae 



OTHER COMMON 



NAMES Gray myotis, cave bat, 



Howell's bat, Tennessee brown bat 



DATE 



Entered into SWIS to be determined 



Updates 8 August 1978 



LEGAL STATUS 



Federal: Endangered (41 FR 17740, 28 April 

 1976). 



States: Endangered: Florida, Georgia, Indiana, 



Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, North 

 Carolina. 



REASONS FOR CURRENT STATUS 



The primary cause for the species current re- 

 ductions from former population levels is human 

 disturbance of caves in which the bats roost, rear 

 young, or hibernate (Manvilie 1962; Barbour and 

 Davis 1969; Tuttlel977, 1979). Gray bats are in- 

 tolerant of human disturbance and Tuttle (1979) 

 has shown a direct correlation between frequency 

 of human disturbances and population reductions. 

 Fully 95% of the entire species winters in just 

 nine caves, and over 60% winters in a single cave 

 in northern Alabama, making the species ex- 

 tremely vulnerable to significant population 

 reductions. Gray bats, with few exceptions, also 

 spend the summers in caves (not the same ones 

 used for hibernation) and are equally vulnerable 

 in these (Tuttle 1979). Deliberate vandalism as 

 well as frequent human invasion of caves where 

 gray bats live has eliminated many colonies and 

 drastically reduced most others (Tuttle 1979). 



Environmental disturbances such as deforesta- 

 tion and chemical and pesticide contamination 



