Indy airport gives cash for bat study

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The Indianapolis International Airport has awarded a nearly $505,000 contract to Indiana State University to track the bats that live or roost on hundreds of acres of airport land.

The Indianapolis Business Journal reports ( http://bit.ly/A1gjyU ) that the airport's 2-year contract awarded this month boosts to $2.5 million the amount the airport has paid ISU since 2004 to track the flying mammals as is required under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The airport must monitor and report its findings each year until 2017 on the endangered Indiana bat and eight other bat species.

ISU biology professor John Whitaker says the school's work at the airport on Indianapolis' southwest side has generated a treasure trove of information on bats and how to best accommodate them, particularly the Indiana bat.