Bats in New York and Vermont are mysteriously dying off by the thousands, often with a white ring of fungus around their noses, and scientists in hazmat suits are crawling into dank caves to find out why.
“White nose syndrome,” as the killer has been dubbed, is spreading at an alarming rate, with researchers calling it the gravest threat in memory to bats in the U.S.
“This is definitely unprecedented,” said Lori Pruitt, an endangered-species biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Bloomington, Ind. “The hugest concern at this point is that we do not know what it is.”
A significant loss of bats is chilling in itself to wildlife experts. But —like the mysterious mass die-offs around the country of bees that pollinate all sorts of vital fruits and vegetables — the bat deaths could have economic implications. Bats feed on insects that can damage dozens of crops, including wheat and apples.
“Without large populations of bats, there would certainly be an impact on agriculture,” said Barbara French of Bat Conservation International of Austin, Texas.
Found by Tracy Taylor.
And the frogs. And Republicans. It is God’s punishment I tell you.
RBG
I’m sure Adam will have some story of how sonar is being manipulated by “The Government,” and that is the reason for the recent crashes of airplanes, satellites, submarines etc..etc..etc.
“Because it all make sense!”
Global warming of course.
Or perhaps it’s because of windmills.
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/08/25/wind-turbine-bats.html
JCD – You couldn’t be bothered to edit out the “story continues below” line?
Where’s the fire?
It always amazes somehow the hatred people have for bats – when first of all they are rather amazing creatures and like bees are very important in agriculture and nature overall
It’s those juiced up balls I tell you. That is why they are breaking more and more bats all the time. Sure they get home runs and the fans love home runs, but look at the cost.
Uuhhh, wrong kind of bat?
Never mind.
No worries citizens, Commissioner Obama will save our furry friends.
Holy bats on cocaine Batman.
The article suggests they may be simply starving – unable to store reserves of fat last season, they die over winter. The infections are consequential to their poor physical condition and close confinement during hibernation.
I’m a caver, and have been aware of the bat die-off for about the last two years. White Nose syndrome is some kind of fungus that damages the bats to the point that they starve. The affected bats live mostly n the Northeast US, but it’s spreading. Not much else is known other than what sargasso has already commented on.
I don’t think many wind turbines have been built in the Northeast, so there’s little connection between White Nose Syndrome and the turbines.
“…dying off by the thousands, often with a white ring of fungus around their noses…”
That was the first clue. Then a biologist noticed that the affected bats were behaving oddly, such as taking rides on house cats and hanging right-side up, they took a closer look at the white “fungus”.
A cocaine investigation is now underway.
The solution is simple, everyone needs to drive an electric car.
Genetically Modified Crops?
12,
thats part of it..
as well as SPRAYING to kill insects.
Man is his OWN worst enemy.
Long ago we decimated the bats, as BAD OMENS and EVIL..now that it would be nice to have them..??
Anyone remember the mosquito problem back east?? and the spraying they did?? and WHERE they sprayed??
We attack mosquitoes to reduce their attacks (transmitted disease) on humans. Chickens are attacking us with deadly strains of flu. It’s not a perfect world. The best we can do is try and correct the mistakes we make (in the interests of our own survival of course) while doing what every animal on earth is doing… maximizing on our survival instincts. But it doesn’t make us evil. If mosquitoes could affect bat control, they would eradicate them.
14,
its the poisons we have used to fight them..mosquito’s..
then the ramifications of killing off a natural predator of the mosquito.
Of destroying the homes of THAT predator..
THEN needing to DEAL with the problem that, that Predator SOLVED..
Or, it could be evolution. Species come & go. Something else evolves to fill the gap.
These bats lost their jobs and could not afford to feed their family, simple, they got hooked on cocaine as they started trading it for bat food, and it began the end. You can be assured though, that the wacky world of medical science will pin it on a new strain of virus. They will proclaim throughout the kingdom “we must find new drugs to kill the virus” even though the peasants keep telling them viruses are already dead, it’s in the literature. Then all of the scientific discovery channels founding patriarchs and all of the kings men will keep trying to get people to believe that they must fight with dead things in order to kill them off to rid the world of the bat plague.
#7
Batman said,
No worries citizens, Commissioner Obama will save our furry friends.
that’s a good one Batman and lets all hope he can.
Even though the Bat die off started long before Commissioner Obama took office and his conservation measures might have help control the unchecked increase rate of the infection. Without our new Commissioner bats might already be extinct. Still some how that evil villain FOX Limbaugh thinks he can get the good citizens of Gotham to blame the bat die off on Commissioner Obama. To bad for him the people of Gotham have a better since of history and know this die off was not caused by the Commissioner. Even the increased spared of the disease is from the original source and not the Commissioner’s doing.
Now the answer is to nationalize the bats, clean them up put in some new bat hygiene laws and then let them privatize. This time don’t let any one bat colony get so big that it’s to big to let die that will only let it extort us again in the future. Probably the Commissioner doesn’t have the authority to nationalize the bats and unlike the last Commissioner not having the authority will prevent him from acting above the law.
16, and we WIPE it out before it gets a chance.
Recession, of course!
I bet this current word of the day can explain it all.
Can’t they just spray some stem cells on them to cure the thing?
#15 ECA said “its the poisons we have used to fight them..mosquito’s.. then the ramifications of killing off a natural predator of the mosquito. Of destroying the homes of THAT predator.. THEN needing to DEAL with the problem that, that Predator SOLVED..”
… not that I want to get picky over this, BUT… we haven’t destroyed the homes of bats in any significant way that I know of. Building bat houses has been popular for several decades. And, bats did not SOLVE the mosquito problem by any stretch… thats why we tried pesticides… which I agree was, and is, still a mistake.
FYI, bats aren’t harmless to humans either. They can carry deadly diseases like rabies and SARS. Not sure about this but I think most of the cases of rabies in humans are from bats.
I luv bats. This sucks !
#8 Remember what Nancy Raegan said about crack bat babies.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling, oops, just some bats and bees… Nothing to worry about!! Now if they were cute furry puppies and kittens, you’d have plenty of people in an outrage. But these are just creatures that most people are afraid of, so maybe we’re better off without them, right? Silly Hoomans, so easily influenced by fear that common sense is practically unknown to them.
#21, Alphie,
We all know it Bush’s fault…Bush lied, bats died…its an inside job I tell you… …
You are definately on to something. Although it is quite possible that the bats found Bushes old coke stash in a cave and got into it.
If the bats die off, the flying insects will rule the world.
26,
yah, keep talking about rabies, and remember when we were YOUNG and our parents told us, about THAT creature COULD have rabies..
There are only 2-3 bat species that SUCK BLOOD. And the ALMIGHTY Vampire bat is in the southern states and SOUTH..
90% of them are insectivores..9% fruit eaters..
Have you ever seen a sky full of bats?? go back 150 years.
we have destroyed there caves, where 1000’s and 1000’s live. And you think a BAT BOX is going to house enough BATS to clear out a city?
#31
Vampires are liberals, and they are mostly in the north.
They suck the blood of the entire nations.
Only partial vampires are in the south (republicans). Partial – because they suck the blood of the citizens only, leaving corporations usually untouched and healthily fat…
When this was discussed on Quirks and Quarks (CBC radio program) some weeks ago, there was a plausible theory: the fungus makes the hibernating bat very itchy. Every few weeks it wakes up (with concomitant rise in metabolism) to scratch, goes back to hibernation … and by the end of the winter, it no longer has enough fat / energy stores to survive.