Design Changes Improve Bat Box Safety

Bat boxes meant to provide habitat can be deadly for bats if poorly designed, because they can overheat, researchers have found. A University of Illinois team led by bat researcher Joy O’Keefe conducted a project to identify design improvements that could make bat boxes perform better. The team simulated the performance of different types of insulation, paint colors, and box orientation at various temperatures. Boxes with a heat-storage layer and insulation maintained more stable temperatures, and light-colored paint and north-south orientation helped the boxes stay cooler. Rather than developing a simple prescription based on their results, the team made their simulation code public, so that bat conservationists at different latitudes and with different sizes of bat box could find the combination of characteristics that works best in their own situations.