Waking Up Too Soon: White-Nosed Syndrome

The United States is home to some 40 different species of bat. Thanks to stories of blood-sucking vampire bats, they've somewhat developed the reputation of a fearsome pest, but in fact they are a vital part of our local environment. Many bats can eat their body weight in insects on a single nightly outing. As such they play a huge role in controlling local populations of real pests: disease-spreading insects. But across the country something devastating is happening, more than a million bats have now been wiped out due to the rampant spread of a fungal infection known as White Nose Syndrome (WNS). read more

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