'Not very common': Endangered Little Brown Bats found on Sask. grasslands

Most people think of bison and cattle roaming along the plains when they think of grasslands, not bats.

But that's just what a bat biologist recently found in southwestern Saskatchewan an endangered Little Brown Bat.

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Last summer, Joe Poissant, who works for the Nature Conservancy of Canada, found several of the critters at Saskatchewan'sOld Man on His Back conservation area.

Since then, the creatures have been declared endangered and Poissantsays it's rare for them to liveonthe prairies.

He says they usually live in larger colonies in tree cavities or buildings.

"In the area of Old Man on His Back, there aren't a lot of either of those things," he said.

"That's why it was kind of interesting to find them."

He found the bats by using a recording device used to track bats. The device records bat calls and displays them graphically after the data is downloaded.

Poissant believes the bats may have migrated into the area from the river valleys, which have trees.

He says it's important to track these bats because they are "experiencing some problems right now in North America" due to an emerging disease in hibernating bats called White-Nose Syndrome (WNS).

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White-nose syndromeis a fungus whichattacks thebare skin of bats, causing their body temperature to rise duringhibernation. In the process, they use up fat reserves and end up starving before spring arrives.

"Understanding where these bats exist before white-nose comes to the area is important for conservation efforts and to understand how they're moving around on the landscape," he said.

Despite the possibility of WNS arriving in Saskatchewan, Poissant says Old Man on His Back could be acting as a refuge for the bats.

"In Saskatchewan to this point, we've had no ill effects," he said.

"Hopefully it means that we'll have stable populations over the long term."

Old Man on His Back conservation area is located about 153kilometres southwest of Swift Current.