For Immediate Release, September 24, 2018

Endangered Species Mural to Be Celebrated Sept. 27 in Cincinnati

Local Endangered Bat Featured in National Project

CINCINNATI— The Center for Biological Diversity, ArtWorks Cincinnati and Great Parks of Hamilton County will host an event Thursday evening to celebrate the 17th installment in the Center's national Endangered Species Mural Project.

The 1,000-square-foot mural featuring the Indiana bat is being painted by Roger Peet and two ArtWorks Youth Apprentices. This will be the first endangered species mural project in Ohio.

“By painting larger-than-life Indiana bats, we hope people will come to see them in a new light and take action to help save them,” said Roger Peet, an artist and endangered species mural project coordinator. “Bats play an important role in nature by eating insects, and they need our protection and respect.”

What: Endangered Species Mural Project public celebration of the Indiana bat. Artists will be available for interviews at the site this week as they paint and at the celebration.  

When: Thursday, Sept. 27, 6 to 8 p.m.

Where: The event will be in the parking lot of Fifty West Cycling Company, 7669 Wooster Pike. The mural is nearby, on the Little Miami Scenic Trail at Bass Island Park underneath the Newtown Road overpass on the Little Miami River.

Species Background
Indiana bats are threatened by humans intentionally killing them and disturbing their caves in winter. They are also threatened by the spread of the fungal disease called White Nose Syndrome, which has killed millions of bats.

People can help Indiana bats by building a bat house and by not cutting down dead and dying trees, which the animals use for sleeping during summer.

Indiana bats are found throughout forested areas in Ohio during summer. They are 2 inches long and weigh the equivalent of three pennies, but have a wingspan of 10 inches. They have chestnut-colored fur and cinnamon-colored bellies and are distinguished by their pink lips, as most bats have black lips. They eat insects, including mosquitos, wasps and occasionally spiders and ticks.

A recent scientific paper on the economic value of bats to agriculture estimated they provided nontoxic pest-control services totaling more than $4 billion annually.

The Indiana bat is also called the social bat, because in winter the animals hibernate in caves clustered tightly together to stay warm.

Mural Project Background
The Endangered Species Mural Project has now installed 17 murals in public spaces around the country. The project aims to celebrate local endangered species and encourage people to make connections between conservation and community strength.

Other murals already in place include a blue whale in Los Angeles; a monarch butterfly in Minneapolis; a jaguar in Tucson; grizzly bears in Oakland; a watercress darter in Birmingham; and freshwater mussels of the Tennessee River in Knoxville. Upcoming murals include an Ozark hellbender salamander near Little Rock and an eastern indigo snake in St. Petersburg, Fla.