I hadn't heard of this before... there was a special emergency bat lecture at the Crumps Cave thing I went to. Apparently, 90% of the cave dwelling bats in North York are dead, and the entire Northeast is afflicted.
2006: Discovered there was a white fungus discovered growing on some batty's in one cave in central NY.
2007: It had spread across the northeast... Massachusetts... Vermont.
2008: Found in certain locations as far south as West Virginia.
This is spreading like wild fire. There is a special emergency, no cave exploring mandate in Kentucky, cause we are next in line.
The bats are coming out of their hibernation cycles too early -- as early as February in some cases. They promptly starve or freeze to death. Scientists are not sure if the white fungus is the cause of this or another symptom of some unknown bat disease.
Now, wikipedia doesn't mention this, but the large distances this disease is traversing does not match up with bat migratory patterns (although the wiki claims it does). A more likely cause for the afflicted caves down south is active cavers, who don't wash their gear... hence the caving advisory in Kentucky.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment