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The estimate was difficult because common bat species have not been regularly counted. As mortality rates at some sites reached 100 percent, a team of 140 Canadian and U.S. researchers coordinated to come up with a number. Jeremy Coleman, national white-nose coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, told Sahagun that since bats have low reproductive rates, it will probably take more than 100 years for populations to fully recover.
The disease has killed mostly little brown bats, one of the most common mammals in North America. The species has lost 20 percent of its population in five years. Bats who contract it exhibit unusual behavior during winter, like flying outside and clustering around cave entrances when they should be hibernating, and they can freeze to death. Researchers are trying to find a treatment, including vaccination or manipulating cave environments. (Read more)
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