Crawling through a narrow passage in a cave beneath a boreal forest near Fort Smith in Canada’s Northwest Territories in May, two biologists spotted a lifeless bat on a limestone ledge, its body covered in a spindly white fungus. When they shone their headlamps to get a closer look, they saw another bat with the […]
Tag: white-nose syndrome
Bats Are Recovering in a Big Way After Decimation by White-Nose Syndrome: Numbers Grow for the 3rd Year
In a positive development for a maligned animal, cave-roosting bat populations in Wisconsin are recovering from a fungal epidemic. Wildlife authorities are reporting that for the third year in a row, the state’s bat populations seem to be rising. Numbers of little brown bats, big brown bats, tricolored bats, and northern long-eared bats are estimated […]
Trump officials plan to destroy a critical government program they probably know nothing about
Nearly two decades ago, scientists made an alarming discovery in upstate New York: Bats, the world’s only flying mammal, were becoming infected with a new, deadly fungal disease that, in some cases, could wipe out an entire colony in a matter of months. Since then, the disease — later called white-nose syndrome — has spread […]
A deadly disease is killing millions of bats. Now Trump funding cuts threaten a promising Canadian treatment
Researchers Cori Lausen and Maleen Mund step out of the warm spring sun and into a dimly lit workshop. The only light streams in through the doorway behind them and a few dusty windows. It’s been a cool start to the season in the Lower Mainland, but some bats have already emerged from their winter […]
Bat with species-devastating fungus discovered in Colorado
A bat infected with a fungus that has killed millions of bats across the country was found in Longmont last month. Testing this month confirmed the little brown bat was infected with white-nose syndrome—a deadly fungus that could devastate Colorado’s native bat populations. The bat found in Longmont is the second found with the syndrome […]
Fungus among us
More bad news for bats, I’m afraid—the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has confirmed that white-nose syndrome (WNS) has now spread to the endangered gray bat. The fungus, which has devastated large populations of North American bats, was detected in Tennessee gray bats although biologists did not find evidence that it had killed any animals […]