The Bat Scientists

by Mary Kay Carson

Overview

“Rich with fascinating information and photographs.”—Horn Book

Dr. Merlin Tuttle is fascinated by bats, with good reason. Bats fly the night skies the world over, but are the least studied of all mammals. As the major predator of night-flying insects, bats eat many pests. But bats are facing many problems, including a scary new disease. White-nose syndrome is killing millions of bats in North America. Dr. Tuttle and his fellow bat scientists are on the front line of the fight to save their beloved bats. Find more about this series at www.sciencemeetsadventure.com.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780544104938
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/13/2013
Series:	Scientists in the Field Series
Pages:	80
Sales rank:	435,968
Product dimensions:	9.04(w) x 10.88(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	1010L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 12 Years

About the Author

Mary Kay Carson lives with her husband, Tom Uhlman, and their dog, Ruby, in a century-old house surrounded by deer, hawks, woodchucks, songbirds, and other creatures in Cincinnati, Ohio. Check out their other Scientists in the Field books, including The Tornado Scientist, Park Scientists, Emi and the Rhino Scientist, The Bat Scientists, Inside Biosphere 2, and Mission to Pluto.

Editorial Reviews

*"Whether describing the physics of echolocation or the present crisis of white-nose syndrome, Carson encourages readers to rethink stereotypes about creatures once scorned as flying vermin and shows how intricately their survival is tied to our own."
— Booklist (starred review)

"A strong scientific look at a unique and often unloved mammal and the scientists who happily investigate them" — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

Gr 5–8—This series entry takes readers along with Merlin Tuttle and a crew of BCI (Bat Conservation International) into bat caves and bridges, trees and houses to study these agile flitterers. Carson's readable, informative text dispels the ugly myths that have haunted these nocturnal hunter/gatherers, detailing bats' usefulness to humankind from gobbling up mosquitoes to scarfing down corn earworm moths to pollinating a multitude of plants throughout the rain forest. Replete with superb close-ups of big ears, hairless pups, furrowed faces, and fragile wings, the text describes the damage done by humans to bat environments and the ravages of white-nose syndrome, and tells of efforts to restore and protect hibernating sites and maternity colonies. Readers not ready for this richness of detail should enjoy Laurence Pringle's Handsome Bats (Boyds Mills, 2000), while those wanting more can plunge into Sandra Markle's elegant Inside and Outside Bats (S & S/Atheneum, 1997). Readers in the "more, more, more" contingent can investigate Karen Taschek's more challenging Hanging with Bats (Univ. of Mexico Press, 2008). A strong scientific look at a unique and often unloved mammal and the scientists who happily investigate them.—Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY

School Library Journal

The "ick" factor is high in this latest title in the Scientists in the Field series describing patient field work, rescue and conservation efforts to save bats. The survival of these valuable but poorly understood nocturnal mammals is threatened by habitat loss, human fears and a mysterious disease. An opening trip with a gas-masked bat expert wading through mounds of droppings in an ammonia-filled cave is followed by visits to a rehabilitator with bats in her barn, a caver who not only researches bats but builds gates to keep them safe in their breeding and winter habitats, a scientist who finds bats under bridges and supervises building bat shelters and finally a night mist-net expedition with a Ph.D. candidate. Though the striking cover shows zoo-dwelling vampire bats from Central or South America, the focus of the text is bat research in this country. Woven into particular researchers' stories is an enormous amount of information about bat biology and behavior. Uhlman's photographs are clearly identified in context and the backmatter supports further research. (Learn more, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews