In White Nose Syndrome Caves, Dead Bats Carpet Floors; Index Cases Confirmed In Tennesee 2/16 - NS

[hatrack]

CORPSE upon corpse they lie, a carpet of emaciated, fungus-ridden carcasses. Where once healthy animals hung in slumber from the cave roof, now there is a mass grave on the floor. It is a scene that is repeated throughout the eastern US, from Vermont to West Virginia. America's bats are in crisis, under threat from a mysterious killer.

The first sign that something was up emerged in February 2006, when a caver photographed hibernating bats with white muzzles at Howe's Cave in Albany, New York state. Soon afterwards bats were observed behaving strangely - waking from hibernation early and in a state of serious starvation. Some even ventured out of their roosts during daylight to search for food. Inside the caverns, the floors were littered with bodies, most with the characteristic fuzzy white mould growing on their noses, ears and wings. So far, about a million bats have succumbed to this fate, an affliction dubbed white nose syndrome (WNS).

The fungus has recently been identified as Geomyces destructans (Science, vol 323, p 227). It is the prime suspect and the focus of an intense research effort. Even so, there remains the possibility that it is not actually the killer but just an opportunistic pathogen hitching a ride on the back of some other deadly foe.

What is known is that once the fungus appears in a cave, between 80 and 100 per cent of the bats hibernating there are likely to die. What's more, it is spreading, marching inexorably across North America (see map). On 16 February this year, the first two cases were confirmed in Tennessee. "It terrifies everybody in the bat community," says Emma Teeling at University College Dublin, Ireland.

EDIT

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527532.500-a-killer-in-the-bat-cave.html

[SPedigrees]

1. So sad. I seldom see the little night flying critters anymore

here in Vermont. First the fireflies (still here but in reduced numbers) and now the bats.

[hedgehog]

2. Cross your fingers....

Athlete’s foot therapy tapped to treat bat-killing fungus


http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/57531/title/Athlete%E2%80%99s_foot_therapy_tapped_to_treat_bat-killing_fungus

[maryf]

3. hope it works!

I'd rather be batty than buggy! k&r

[glinda]

4. I feel just horrible. I wish they could do something soon.