Wisconsin scientists track tiny bat with small transmitter

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Scientists in Wisconsin have tracked the state's smallest bat by using an ultralight transmitter that beamed its movement after emerging from hibernation.

Biologists and volunteers followed a female eastern pipistrelle from a Pierce County cave in May to a roosting spot along the Mississippi River, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported . The small bat weighs less than a nickel.

Scientists initially placed the tracking devices on two bats on May 5. But scientists quickly lost track of one of the animals.

The tracking results determined that the bat moved the most right after hibernation and didn't travel far, said Paul White, a mammal ecologist and manager of the Department of Natural Resources' bat program.