About 90% of Bats Wiped Out in Connecticut?
by Greg on Mar.19, 2009, under Science Life
Lab analysis indicated the fungus is of the type Geomyces. It is found in cold climates like the Arctic and more recently in caves in the Northeast. Bats hibernate in these caves and huddle together in masses to keep warm, which could be spreading the fungus quickly. Apparently most of the decimation of the Connecticut bats has taken place this winter alone. Bats with white nose syndrome were identifed several years ago, but the extent of the problem was not known. That, or the fungus has been rapidly spreading over a short period of time. Scientists now estimate one million bats in the Northeast may have been killed by the fungus.
Some biologists are very concerned that when the Northeastern bats migrate they could carry the fungus to other areas of the country such as the South. If the fungus spreads to the largest bat hibernation area which spans Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama many millions of bats could die.
Heh, white nose syndrome.
I don’t know how they accurately have found this 90% number, so i need to do further digging. Just digest on this quote for a second:
“…that the free-tail bats — there are at least 100 million of them in central Texas — consume more than 2 million pounds of insects every night.”
:bats

