Plague marching west: researchers study bats to stop their demise
by Kathleen McLaughlin in Monarch, Montana from Environment | The Guardian on (#412Q9)
Scientists work to stay ahead of white nose syndrome, a deadly fungus that has killed millions of bats in the US and Canada
Nate Fuller was just starting out as a bat scientist nine years ago when he entered a massive cave in rural Pennsylvania to look for live animals. Instead, he found himself wading through a distressing muck, the decomposing bodies of thousands upon thousands of dead bats.
That was in the early years of white nose syndrome, the creeping, lethal fungus that has decimated North America's bat population, killing millions of bats and sparking frantic research and conservation efforts across the United States and Canada.
Continue reading...