Endangered cave dwelling bats may have found a way to avoid extinction – by living outside of caves.

Earlier this year, scientists conducting an annual "Bat Blitz" in Alabama to document bat populations across the state uncovered a colony of Northern long-eared bats in coastal Baldwin County.

These bats are typically cave dwellers, but the flat landscape they were found in did not provide a single darkened cavern. That, scientists say, may be what saved them.

Marianne Gauldin with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources said like other animals, bats can spread disease between each other while packed into tight spaces - like caves.

"WNS is primarily spread from bat to bat in close quarters such as huddled in caves," she said. "Those bats are less likely to contract this contagious fungal disease due to their decreased exposure to other bats who might have it."

The Northern long-eared bat was once one of the most common bats found in North America. It was listed as an endangered species in 2022 after white-nose syndrome, WNS, decimated its numbers, killing 97-100% of many populations.

WNS is considered one of the worst wildlife diseases in the modern era and is credited with killing millions of bats across North America.

The White-Nose Syndrome response team, a collection of biologists, researchers and others who collectively work under a federal plan by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to fight WNS keeps data on the spread of the disease. It was first detected in the U.S. in 2006.

By 2014, WNS had creeped into north Alabama. By 2017 it was killing bats as far south as Montgomery. But Alabama's beaches have remained untouched.

The ability to thrive year-round at the more southern location, and not hibernate, may also help keep the bats safe from WNS.

"If they are able to successfully feed on insects throughout the winter months, they often stay active year-round or may have periods of slower activity," Gauldin said. "But they do not hibernate – they will rest or roost in trees, on buildings, in any nook or cranny, and some bat species even rest on the ground under fallen leaves."

No hibernating means no tight quarters, which means no spreading of disease.

Alabama's annual Bat Blitz this spring focused on Mobile and Baldwin counties specifically so scientists could search for the Northern long-eared bats.

The species was recently discovered in coastal regions of North Carolina and South Carolina – two non-cave bearing, mild winter regions. If bats lived there, maybe they would live here too.

On the last day of the Bat Blitz, one male and two pregnant female Northern long-eared bats were captured and released on a Forever Wild Land Trust tract within the Perdido River Wildlife Management Area in Baldwin County.

It was the first time the species was documented in the region.

Officials returned to the area in June when another male and a female were captured, giving scientists the ability to list the area as a place the bats were gaining a foothold.

Chris Blankenship, ADCNR commissioner and chairman of the Forever Wild Land Trust Board of Trustees, said the discovery of the bats there serves as a reminder as to the importance of watershed areas in the region.

"The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has been intentional about acquiring land along the Perdido River corridor to add to the land that currently encompasses the Perdido WMA," Chris Blankenship, said in the press release. "The discovery of this endangered species in the area we are working to protect is further evidence of the importance of this land in eastern Baldwin County."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service currently lists 128 endangered or threatened species in Alabama, the third highest number in the nation behind Hawaii and California.

Mobile and Baldwin counties are home to roughly 23 endangered species, though the numbers change slightly from year to year as populations rebound while others fall.