Body Condition of a Free-Ranging Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus) with a Broken Humerus

Abstract

Abstract We captured a free-ranging adult female little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) with a fractured humerus that was in an advanced stage of healing. Compared to seven other adult female little brown bats captured the same evening from the same colony, the body condition of the bat with the healing humerus was 5.4%–13.8% less than other colony members. Our observation suggests that even though free-ranging bats may survive the trauma associated with a broken wing bone, there may be latent effects on their ability to forage and maintain body condition. This may ultimately compromise their ability to build up sufficient energetic reserves to migrate and hibernate.