Bats on EARTH Magazine

Asian bats resist white nose fungus

Thu, 14 Jul 2016 10:36:04 -0400

White Nose Syndrome, seen here on a northern long-eared bat from Illinois, has killed millions of bats in North America since 2006. Credit: University of Illinois/Steve Taylor, CC BY 2.0.

White Nose Syndrome has devastated bats across North America in recent years, but possible genetic resistance to the fungus has now been identified in some species of Asian bats. Researchers comparing North American and Chinese bat populations in a new study have found lower levels of infection — and greater capacities for recovery — in bats from five cave sites in China.

Bat signals

Fri, 01 Apr 2016 12:34:24 -0400

Mystacina tuberculata foraging on New Zealand's South Island. Credit: Rob Morris.

Bats, the only true-flight mammals, first appeared during the Early Eocene after a period of acute global warming known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Despite decades of study, however, much remains unknown about bats. Recent discoveries are shedding new light on the natural history of these creatures, which today comprise one of the most diverse mammalian groups.

Fossilized melanin reveals bats' true colors

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 08:18:03 -0500

Palaeochiropteryx, a 49-million-year-old bat, likely had reddish-brown coloration when it lived. Credit: Ghedoghedo, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Studies of pigments preserved in fossil feathers have changed our perception of how colorful dinosaurs were. Now, researchers have revealed the true colors of some of the first flying mammals as well. Two species of bats that lived during the Eocene about 50 million years ago were likely reddish-brown in color, according to a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Banana-preserving bacterium shows promise against bat-killing fungus

Tue, 16 Jun 2015 10:40:59 -0400

A tri-colored bat in a cave in Cumberland Gap National Historic Park afflicted with White Nose Syndrome. Credit: National Park Service

Since White Nose Syndrome began decimating bat colonies in New England in 2006, most of the news coming out of bat caves in the U.S. hasn’t been good. To date, as many as 6 million bats in 26 states have died as a result of infection. But a new trial pitting a particular soil bacterium against White Nose is providing a glimmer of hope in the fight to slow its devastating march across the country.

Southeastern caves shuttered to slow the spread of bat-killing disease

Thu, 05 Jun 2014 22:27:07 -0400

Little brown bat with White Nose Syndrome. Credit: Moriarty Marvin, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Since White Nose Syndrome was first identified in dead bats recovered from a cave in New York state in 2006, the mysterious fungal disease has wiped out more than 5 million bats in the eastern U.S., and efforts to halt its southern and western spread have become increasingly desperate.

Bats and white-nose syndrome = VA cavers, please stay out

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

The endangered Indiana bat. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Bats with white-nose syndrome in New York. Nancy Heaslip, New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation

Blogging on EARTH

The name sounds pretty innocuous, but white-nose syndrome (WNS) is rapidly becoming very bad news for bats; in just a couple of years, hundreds of thousands of hibernating bats in the northeastern United States with this fungus have died. Among the most affected are the little brown bat and the endangered Indiana bat.

Mysterious disease sounds the death knell for bats

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

A little brown bat with a white muzzle characteristic of White Nose Syndrome. Alan Hicks

Dead bats liter the floor of Aeolus Cave near Manchester, Vt. Alan Hicks

These are dark days for bats. Hundreds of thousands of tiny white-nosed bats have died over the past few winters, falling to cave floors across the eastern United States. The killer is White Nose Syndrome, a mysterious disease inflicted by an unusual cold-loving fungus that attacks bats while they are hibernating. Come spring, as few as 5 percent of the bats in heavily infected roosts are still alive.

New federal guidelines aim to combat bat-killing fungus

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Little brown bats showing signs of _Geomyces destructans_ on the wings. Alan Hicks

On May 17, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a new nationwide plan to curb the spread of White Nose Syndrome (WNS), the mysterious fungal disease that has killed upward of 2 million hibernating bats since emerging in 2006.