An animal apocalypse is happening right beneath our noses in the Northeast. Since 2006, bats throughout New York, …
bats
EcocentricWildlife
The Economic Cost of Losing Bats
It can be hard to feel much sympathy for bats. Like snakes or spiders or sharks or bunnies (OK, maybe the last one is just me), there’s something primordially alarming about bats, something that activates the lizard part of the brain and shutters empathy. Bats aren’t actually “flying rodents,” but you likely won’t see them on the …
EcocentricEcocentric
Conservation: A Disease Could Wipe Out Bats
Scientists have been puzzled about a strange disease that began attacking bats in New York state in 2006. The bats would suddenly awaken from hibernation in midwinter, their faces covered in a white fungus. Already weakened, they struggle to find food and die in large numbers. Called white-nose syndrome (WNS), the disease has spread …
EcocentricEndangered Species
White-Nose Syndrome Kills Bats Dead
If white-nose syndrome attacked a cuter species, we’d be all over it. But just because bats that are being afflicted—and not cute bunnies—doesn’t make the sudden spread of this disease any less worrying. Today the Center for Biological Diversity reported an outbreak of the disease in a new species of bat, the southeastern myotis, in …