Only one record has been obtained from the park, a specimen collected at Longmire in September, 1937.
Specimens in park collection: Miller bat, RNP-85; Northwestern long-legged bat, none; silver-haired bat, none; Townsend lump-nosed bat, RNP-93; Longmire Museum, Park Headquarters.
The bats are among the most feared and least known of any of our mammals. Many people are afraid to have anything to do with them, and everyone is familiar with the old belief that, given the opportunity, a bat will fly into one’s hair. Yet the bats that are so common in North America are weak and entirely harmless. Far from being harmful to man, they serve a most useful function in destroying various insects. The worst problem the bat presents is the habit some species have of using buildings as a place to sleep.
Although possessing a wing-like structure, the bat does not have a wing in the sense that a bird has. The “wing” consists of a much modified hand with very long fingers. This is covered with a thin, but very tough membrane, that enables the animal to fly. The bat’s flight is seemingly aimless, but is actually purposeful. It is during these “drunken flights” that it catches the insects upon which it lives.
By far the most astonishing and marvelous feature about the bat’s anatomy is the delicate mechanism that guides it in flight. This animal has operated on the principle used by radar thousands of years before man discovered the device. The hearing is extremely acute and bats are able to receive sound impulses at a vibration frequency too high for the human ear. During flight it sends out shrill cries of high vibration frequency. As these sounds travel out through space they are reflected back by any object, large or small, that they strike. Through sensitive ears the bat receives these rebounding sounds and thus is aware at all times of the nearness of any object. This explains the bat’s uncanny ability to fly through a room in total darkness without striking even such small objects as wire or lamp cords. This ingenious device fails around water, however. Experiments have shown that a small wire stretched just above the surface of a pond is not “seen” by the bat when it swoops down to get a drink.
Some bats rest in leafy treetops where they cling to small branches. Most species stay in hollow trees or caves during the daytime, and “bat caves” are common in many parts of the country, the most famous one is at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. While resting or sleeping the bat hangs head downward, always in a position to drop and fly at any moment. It is helpless on the ground, and must obtain sufficient elevation to allow for a few inches of drop before it can fly.
One of the most elusive animals in the park is the coyote.
MOUNTAIN COYOTE
Canis latrans lestes Merriam
The mountain coyote resembles a small collie dog in size, with a slender body, erect, pointed ears, and bushy tail. The upper parts of its body are light brownish gray, with numerous long, coarse, black hairs. The under parts are whitish, with the long hairs of the throat tipped with black. The tail is heavily tipped with black above and light beneath. The muzzle and crown of the head is a bright yellowish brown.