On the Efficiency of the Tuttle Bat Trap

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Abstract
The efficiency of the Tuttle bat trap was tested by analyzing the proportion of bats that were captured, passed through, avoided, and bounced off traps as they departed at dusk from nursery roosts of Myotis lucifugus. Throughout the warm season, capture success usually varied from 30 to 80 percent among three colonies studied, with the highest success occurring at roosts where bats dropped from a crevice directly into the pathway of a trap. The lowest success was achieved where bats departed through a window-size opening. We suspect that most of the differences in trap success observed among colonies reflected the relative flight momentum that bats established before encountering a trap, the angle of encounter, and the opportunities available for avoidance. Traps were biased in favor of capturing juveniles when they first began to fly outside their roost and before they were weaned. Though no bias exists for juvenile sex ratios, other possible biases include those for learning (prior experience), age, and reproductive condition.

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