Talk:Big brown bat

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 27 August 2019 and 21 December 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): AnnieMRodriguez.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 15:42, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Range?

What's their range (where they live in the world)? Anchoress 09:33, 18 July 2007 (UTC) how did the big brown live before its habitat was affected by humans?Chellebumm69 (talk) 20:17, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

I think north-east US for some and western US for others, I'm not sure...

69.136.72.16 (talk) 22:21, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

Roosting

I was perusing your article about big brown bats and got as far as where they roost (according to your article under tree bark). This is not at all correct. I used to work with bat conservation. Some examples of tree-dwelling bats in North America are Red bats and Hoary bats. Big Browns are cave-dwelling, or they will reside in buildings, under shutters, etc. They DO NOT dwell in trees.

Linda C. RickerLindacricker (talk) 13:49, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

This has been addressed in the article with multiple citations. Enwebb (talk) 17:06, 30 November 2017 (UTC)

Recent improvements

Hi Gen. Quon thanks for your recent edits to this article. Are you planning to go for GA? I might be interested in collaborating if you are. Enwebb (talk) 15:04, 30 August 2019 (UTC)

@Enwebb: Thanks! Yeah, I was actually thinking of getting it promoted, and I would very much be interested in collabing. I'm relatively new to biological articles (my previous editing has been focused mostly on pop culture and history stuff), but I've recently gotten really interested in microbats.--Gen. Quon (Talk) 18:27, 30 August 2019 (UTC)

Ah, I see that you're the editor who worked on little brown bat. That's actually the article that made me fall in love with 'em. That picture is adorable.--Gen. Quon (Talk) 18:29, 30 August 2019 (UTC)

Gen. Quon, always good to meet a fellow lover of bats! I've been working on a lot of the larger bats lately, but now that my recent FAC is wrapped up, I would be happy to start working towards a GA for another little guy (just didn't want to step on your toes or anything). The article probably doesn't need too much more to meet GA standards. Description is pretty sparse compared to little brown bat, though. What are your thoughts? Enwebb (talk) 18:57, 30 August 2019 (UTC)

@Enwebb: I'm thinking lede, description, and relationship w/ human sections could use more content. But aside from that, I agree that much of the article is decently complete. I'd like to go through and clean up some of the older sources and fact check, too.--Gen. Quon (Talk) 19:45, 30 August 2019 (UTC)

Gen. Quon, I think it's about there. Are you still interested in being a co-nom? Enwebb (talk) 14:51, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

@Enwebb: Oh dang! I don't know how I missed those edits. Good work! I'd be delighted to be considered a co-nom.--Gen. Quon (Talk) 17:04, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Big brown bat/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Dunkleosteus77 (talk · contribs) 17:48, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for taking this on! Enwebb (talk) 13:43, 14 September 2019 (UTC)

Comments by Dunkleosteus77

• You shouldn't wikilink continents and countries per wp:overlink   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  17:48, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
  • done
• The lead seems exceptionally large for an article of this size, and I see a lot of possible trimming areas. For example, "Like all bats in the US, the big brown bat can be impacted by rabies, though some individuals have immunity against the virus. They test positive for the virus infrequently. In 2011, only 3.8%[4] of big brown bats submitted for testing were positive for rabies, even though sick bats are more likely to be submitted, as healthy bats avoid humans" this doesn't really belong in the lead. For the lead, you can just cut it down to "Big brown bats can carry rabies, though they test positive for the virus infrequently"   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  17:48, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
  • Okay, simplified that last part.

That was just an example. The lead is too big   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  04:35, 17 September 2019 (UTC)

Condensed Enwebb (talk) 14:50, 17 September 2019 (UTC)

• There seems to be something missing from taxonomic history. Do you know why Beauvois gave it the name Vespertila fuscus? What does Vespertila fuscus translate to? Why is it now classified in the genus Eptesicus and when did this happen?   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  17:48, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
  • I'm not sure what you mean by this first question. He gave it that name as a binomial to describe it. In the speciesbox I have a note that Vespertila has been speculated to be a misprint of Vespertilio, is that what you mean? Vespertilio was a catch-all genus for earliest described bat species. I'll see if I can find when the original combination was first used. Enwebb (talk) 13:43, 14 September 2019 (UTC)
    • I found a source for that and added it in.--Gen. Quon (Talk) 19:39, 15 September 2019 (UTC)
    • I added more detail about the taxonomy including first use of the present combination. Enwebb (talk) 14:50, 17 September 2019 (UTC)
• "...morphological features did not agree with genetic lineages, and thus were not reliable in distinguishing the two subspecies. Individuals with eastern and western US genetic lineages co-occurred in the same colonies, however" I don't understand what this means   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  17:48, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
• "...the greatest length of skull is approximately 19.25 mm (0.758 in" is "the greatest length of" really necessary here?   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  17:48, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
  • I think yes, as that is the standard name of that measurement, which is often abbreviated to "GLS". Enwebb (talk) 13:45, 14 September 2019 (UTC)
• Be consistent with using either snout or rostrum   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  17:48, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
  • fixed Enwebb (talk) 14:50, 17 September 2019 (UTC)
• Why'd you specifically say "that rarely eats moths" (especially when you didn't list moths as one of the insects it eats)?   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  17:48, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
  • I just removed the last part of that sentence.--Gen. Quon (Talk) 19:41, 15 September 2019 (UTC)
• Who're Kurta and Kunz?   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  17:48, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
  • removed this part Enwebb (talk) 14:50, 17 September 2019 (UTC)
• "most can be found in warm human-man structures" I fixed this but I just thought it was funny   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  17:48, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
  • Thanks Enwebb (talk) 13:43, 14 September 2019 (UTC)
• " although John O. Whitaker and William John Hamilton 'suspect [the bats] are capable of living much longer.' " The way you say this makes it sound so suspicious. Also, why do you sometimes say "a 1995 study" and then other times call out people by name (by the way, if you call out people by name, include their full name and occupation, otherwise it just sounds random)   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  17:48, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
  • removed names
• Why "Pleistocene" bat?   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  17:48, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
  • Because it's part of the quote I'm using from those authors. Removing it would change the meaning of the quote and wouldn't be good form. Enwebb (talk) 13:46, 14 September 2019 (UTC)

Just because you used direct quote doesn’t mean people can understand what you’re saying. Are you trying to say it’s the most widespread bat that evolved in the Pleistocene or the most widespread bat during the Pleistocene? If the latter, juxtaposing it as a direct quote with “is encountered widely throughout North America” makes for a really clumsy transition   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  04:35, 17 September 2019 (UTC)

This is the last comment   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  14:23, 18 September 2019 (UTC)

Thanks, I took a stab at clarifying the meaning here. Enwebb (talk) 14:36, 18 September 2019 (UTC)

• The discussion on white-nose syndrome should go under Disease, not Conservation, because it is, after all, a disease   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  17:48, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
  • I disagree, as it is a disease that doesn't really affect it, though it is a serious concern for many other bats in the range. I'm mostly using it as a foil here. Enwebb (talk) 13:43, 14 September 2019 (UTC)
• Also, the part about testing positive infrequently to rabies should also go under Disease   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  17:48, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
  • I also disagree, as I'm specifically referring to it in its capacity as a rabies vector, which is a human health issue. Enwebb (talk) 13:43, 14 September 2019 (UTC)

it’s more for organizational purposes because the reader will first look under the section called Disease for info on rabies   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  04:35, 17 September 2019 (UTC)

I've renamed the sections "rabies" and "as disease vectors", which hopefully resolves this somewhat. Enwebb (talk) 14:50, 17 September 2019 (UTC)

• Exactly how big do roosts get?   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  15:50, 18 September 2019 (UTC)
  • Added. Enwebb (talk) 02:35, 19 September 2019 (UTC)
• Are they hunted by anything?   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  15:50, 18 September 2019 (UTC)
  • added. Enwebb (talk) 02:35, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

Content about conservation groups

Hi AnnieMRodriguez and welcome to Wikipedia! I'm wondering if the article "big brown bat" is the best place for you to add general content about bat conservation groups. This content does not seem specific to the big brown bat. I just started this article: List of bat conservation and research groups. It's clearly pretty bare, but maybe the content you've written can go there instead. Enwebb (talk) 14:44, 20 December 2019 (UTC)

I went ahead and removed the text you added, as it is not in the scope of this article. If you would like to add it to a more suitable article, you can recover your work here. Elysia (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:31, 20 December 2019 (UTC)

Hi AnnieMRodriguez! I went ahead and moved your content over to the list article.--Gen. Quon (Talk) 21:14, 20 December 2019 (UTC)

rabies immunity?

_{"Like all bats in the US, the big brown bat can be impacted by rabies, though some individuals have immunity against the virus."}

Where is the source for this information? 2605:A601:AB05:9D00:DDE2:CEB1:17F8:F769 (talk) 06:35, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

The source is: "Shankar, V.; Bowen, R. A.; Davis, A. D.; Rupprecht, C. E.; O'Shea, T. J. (2004). "Rabies in a captive colony of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus)". Journal of Wildlife Diseases. 40 (3): 403–413. doi:10.7589/0090-3558-40.3.403. PMID 15465706. S2CID 44769740." It's mentioned in the section "Predators, parasites, and disease" (the lede needn't cite sources that are already cited in the article body).--Gen. Quon_[Talk] 13:29, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Environmental physiology

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 23 August 2023 and 6 December 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Malgam (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Amatthews31, Chassgraves.

— Assignment last updated by Lenaerickson (talk) 02:18, 16 October 2023 (UTC)

@Enwebb: Heads up!--Gen. Quon_[Talk] 13:29, 18 September 2023 (UTC)