Alberta Regulations for Handling Live Bats
Bats are wild animals. It is therefore illegal to capture or keep them in Alberta without a permit. Dr. Barclay’s research team has a permit from the Alberta Department of Sustainable Resource Development (Fish and Wildlife Division) and an animal care permit from the University of Calgary's Life and Environmental Sciences Animal Research Committee. All guidelines in handling live bats were followed for this project.

Initial Attempts
Initially, the plan was to set up a harp trap in the wild and then film the bats as they encountered the trap by using the infrared setting (night vision) on a camcorder. This approach was attempted over a four week period in August in the Kananaskis area. See Figure 4. However, because of the unseasonably cold weather during August, no bats were even observed at the monitored trap, much less captured. Consequently the study was moved indoors and conducted with captive bats.

Final Approach
This study was conducted in two parts. The first set of experiments served as a control. The bats were flown down an open hallway, 14.7m in length, to establish a baseline of how the bats fly and behave without the presence of the harp trap. The second set of experiments tested the effectiveness of the harp trap. The bats were flown down the hallway with the harp trap positioned across the hallway at 9.6m. Additional measurements of weight and wing area were collected to determine wing loading.

Bats
The bats used in this study were collected as part a Ph.D. thesis by Lydia Hollis. Lydia is studying the weight gain of bats fed on different diets. The bats were collected on August 21, 2002 at the Empress Community Hall in Empress, Alberta. They were caught with a mist net as they exited the roost. None of the bats used for this study had ever been exposed to a harp trap prior to the study. At the time of their capture the bats were about six weeks old. This study was conducted on days 12 and 14 (September 3rd and 5th) after their capture. The bats were released back to the wild shortly afterwards.

For most of their time in captivity the bats were stored at room temperature (22C). Each bat was kept separately in a cloth pouch. Prior to feeding and exercising (i.e., flying) the bats were warmed up in an environmental chamber set at 35C. As part of Lydia’s study the first group of five bats (140, 141, 142, 143, and 144) was fed a diet of mealworms raised on bran. The second group of five bats (145, 146, 147, 148 and 149) was being fed mealworms injected with sunflower oil. The remaining group of four bats (150, 151, 152 and 153) was being fed mealworms injected with sheep fat.

Materials
• Bats
• Gloves
• Plastic marking tape
• Camcorder recording tapes
• Slippery book or clipboard
• Polyethylene cutting board, at least 32 cm x 60 cm
• Ruler

Equipment
• Harp trap
• Hallway, at least 15m long x 2.1m wide x 2.6m high
• Two camcorders with time display option
• Two tripods
• Balance, accurate to 0.1 g
• Still photo camera
• Adobe Photo Shop Software

Procedure
1. Locate an appropriate hallway, 14.7 m or greater in length.

2. Warm up the bats in the environmentally controlled chamber at 35C.

3. Place two pieces of florescent marking tape on the floor, 14.7 m apart.

4. Set up the two video cameras at either end of the hallway.

5. Label and load the tapes.

6. Make sure that the fluorescent marking tape is visible though the video cameras.

7. Plug the video cameras in (where possible) and press record.

8. Unwrap a bat from its pouch.

9. Identify the bat loudly, so that the cameras can be synchronized later.

10. Rest the bat on a gloved hand.

11. Hold the bat overhead and encourage it to fly by rotating the wrist. If the bat refuses to fly, place it on a slippery, flat surface (e.g., a book or clipboard) and launch the bat by letting it slide off the end.

12. Allow the bat to fly the length of the hallway.

13. Record any observations about the flight.

14. Relaunch the bat, so that it has two or more opportunities to fly to the end of the hallway.

15. Catch the bat and put it back in its bag.

16. Repeat steps 8-14 for a batch of 5 bats.

17. Install the harp trap at 9.6 m down the hallway, making sure that it fits snuggly into the hallway space. Fill any gaps with people or garbage bags.

18. Repeat steps 8-15 for the batch of bats just flown.

19. Turn the video cameras off.

20. Weigh the bats.

21. Feed and water the bats.

22. With the wing outstretched on the cutting board, photograph the bat and a ruler.

23. Return the bats to environmentally-controlled storage at 22C.

24. Repeat the experiment (steps 1-23), without and with the harp trap, in batches of 4-5 bats.

Manipulated Variables

The manipulated variables in this experiment are;
• choice of bat
• the presence (or absence) of the harp trap

Responding Variables
The responding variables in this experiment are;
• distance flown and time
• mass of the bat and wing area
• whether or not the bats were captured

Control Variables
The control variables of this experiment are;
• storage temperature of the bats
• length of the hallway
• position of the trap
• same time of day
• lighting conditions
• species, age and sex of bat