Kansas Wetlands Education Center Educator Jean Aycock gave a presentation on nocturnal animals on Wednesday at the Great Bend Activity Center.
The presentation covered different types of nocturnal animals that call the Cheyenne Bottoms their home and how they use their senses to hunt for food and find shelter during the day to keep safe from other predators.
“Nocturnal animals are very unique critters,” Aycock said. “Once we get a better understanding about them and how they use the night to their advantage they really seem less creepy. These animals can be found all over the Cheyenne Bottoms.”
According to Aycock, these animals come out at night to hunt for food because there is less competition. Daytime predators will hunt the same land as nocturnal animals, but since they do it at different times there is really no shortage of food.
Another reason why nocturnal animals use the night is due to cooler weather. There is more stuff to hunt because some animals will use the cooler time of the day to save on water loss. This is very important in dryer areas like in desert.
But in order to use the night as a time to hunt prey, these animals need special tools and this is where their senses come into play. Nocturnal animals have acute senses of hearing, eyesight and touch to help with using the dark to their advantage.
Owls are one of the more popular nocturnal animals and, according to Aycock, this is why they have such big eyes. It allows them to use the very low light to hunt for prey. Bats are another popular nighttime feeding animal and they use their hearing to hunt for food, while the raccoon uses touch to help in the dark. “These animals use their senses to help them hunt for food and stay away from other predators that lurk in the dark,” Aycock said. “This is why it is so important for them to have highly tuned senses in order to survive.”

The Bottoms
Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife area lies 2 miles east of U.S. 281, midway between Great Bend and Hoisington.
Access is also available from K-156, or by turning off K-4 at Redwing.
It is owned by the people of Kansas and managed by the Department of Wildlife and Parks. The 19,857-acre area is part of a 41,000-acre natural land sink.
The primary management goal of Cheyenne Bottoms is to provide a diverse marsh habitat for waterfowl and shorebirds during the migrational periods. This includes providing food, water and resting places.
A secondary goal is to increase the production of waterfowl and shorebirds that nest on the area.
For more information about the Cheyenne Bottoms contact the KWEC at its toll-free telephone number, 877-243-9268.