Devastating Disease Found in Endangered Gray Bats
by Wynne Parry
The deadly disease white-nose syndrome has been confirmed in endangered gray bats in Tennessee, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today (May 29).
The disease, caused by the fungus Geomyces destructans, has decimated some bat populations in eastern North America after first being documented in a New York cave in 2006. White-nose syndrome (WNS) was named for the powdery, white fungal growth that develops on infected bats’ snouts.
“The documented spread of WNS on gray bats is devastating news. This species was well on the road to recovery, and confirmation of the disease is great cause for concern,” Paul McKenzie, Missouri Endangered Species Coordinator for the USFWS, said in a statement. “Because gray bats hibernate together in colonies that number in the hundreds of thousands, WNS could expand exponentially across the range of the species.”…
(read more: Live Science) (photo: Cory Holliday, USFWS)
