Indiana bat mural

It was a cold start to the day, as temperatures had fallen below freezing overnight - a record low for the date! However, it was a beautiful sunny day, so the temperatures did manage to reach into the low to mid 50s F by early to mid afternoon, when we went out for our daily exercise, on the bike trail, a different section today, starting a little north of Milford and continuing south to the current end of the trail. It will eventually continue and meet up with the Ohio River trail, but needs to await the widening of a road across the river, to allow space for a bike lane at the side. There was a board up showing the plan, but completion isn’t expected until 2022.
My blip shows a mural depicting the Indiana bat, in one of the under passes we cycled through. The Indiana bat is an endangered species. It’s scientific name is Myotis sodalis, which gives an accurate description of the species. Myotis means “mouse ear” and refers to the relatively small, mouse-like ears of the bats in this group. Sodalis is the Latin word for “companion.” The Indiana bat is a very social species - large numbers cluster together during hibernation. The species is called the Indiana bat because the first specimen described to science in 1928 was based on a specimen found in southern Indiana's Wyandotte Cave in 1904.
The Indiana bat is quite small, weighing only one-quarter of an ounce, though in flight, it has a wingspan of 9 to 11 inches. The fur is dark-brown to black. Indiana bats eat a variety of flying insects found along rivers or lakes and in uplands – Indiana bats eat up to half their body weight in insects each night. Indiana bats are found over much of the eastern half of the United States, though almost half of all Indiana bats hibernate in caves in southern Indiana. It is particularly at risk now from White-nose syndrome, an emerging disease in North American bats which has resulted in the dramatic decrease of the bat population in the United States and Canada, reportedly killing millions as of 2018.The condition is named for a distinctive fungal growth around the muzzles and on the wings of hibernating bats