Tennessee’s few western little brown myotis records all come from East Tennessee, at Bays Mountain Park near Kingsport and Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, plus one from Campbell County. The limestone caves and old mine shafts tucked into the region’s ridges are exactly the kind of hibernation site this bat depends on.
A colonial bat built for water and warmth
Unlike Tennessee’s solitary tree bats, this species gathers in groups, sometimes by the thousands, in caves, hollow trees, and buildings. It hunts low over ponds and slow rivers for moths and mosquitoes, and mothers raise a single pup each year in warm, crowded nursery roosts.
A thin record in a hard-hit range
Tennessee has only 4 confirmed records, one each in February, March, July, and September, too few to show a seasonal pattern and likely a sign of how few people survey hibernating colonies rather than the bat’s true presence. East Tennessee’s caves sit within the range where white-nose syndrome has hit hibernating colonies hardest since the disease reached the region, part of why this once-common bat is now rated Endangered.
Full species profile
