It thrives in the cold and dark, infesting the muzzles of sleeping bats. The deadly fungus hops from bat to bat, stirring the winged mammals from their winter slumber while they cluster in caves. It can drive bats to dehydration and starvation, leaving cave floors littered with carcasses.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday proposed adding the tricolored bat, one of several species affected by the deadly fungus, to its list of endangered species.
The tricolored bat in particular “has been in trouble for a long time,” said Beth Buckles, an associate clinical professor of biology at Cornell who co-authored a major paper describing the disease. She thinks the decision is long overdue.“It takes a while to get things listed, I understand that,” she said. “But bats are in a really bad way.”No one is quite sure when or how white-nose syndrome arrived.
The tiny species, which can weigh less than a quarter, faces threats beyond this disease. Shifts in temperature and precipitation due to climate change can disturb roosting and foraging. And the blades of wind turbines can strike and kill the animals.A dozen different bat species are impacted by white-nose syndrome. Federal officialsto list the northern long-eared bat as endangered. The agency is considering granting a third species, the little brown bat, federal protections as well.
Ya called climate change
edge_nature They need to speed it up before they’re gone 😪🦇💜