HOULTON PIONEER TIMES • April 24, 2023
Following a catastrophic loss of the mammals statewide due to white nose syndrome, state biologists are more closely monitoring hibernating bat populations in caves and through acoustic recording. It’s more difficult to determine bat numbers in Aroostook County because biologists haven’t found hibernation caves in the region, said Cory Stearns, small mammal biologist at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Nonetheless, early signs indicate that Maine’s endangered little brown bat population may be rebounding. This is good news considering another species, the northern long-eared bat, joined the federal endangered species list last fall and the tricolored bat has been proposed for the federal list.