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| female gray bat: USF&WS |
The killer fungus known as "White Nose Syndrome" has spread to another endangered species,
gray bats (Myotis grisecens). The documented cases are located in Hawkins and Montgomery counties of Tennessee. These are the first known cases in the gray bat. Six other hibernating bat species including the endangered Indiana bat
(Myotis sodalis)are already infected. The development is alarming because the gray bat is numerous having increased in numbers since it was listed in 1976. Gray bats live in large colonies in a few selected caves year round, making the spread of the disease throughout the species more likely. They live in limited limestone karst areas of the southeastern United States where caves are common. The discovery was made by biologists making two separate winter surveillance trips. Telltale white fungus on the muzzle and tail membranes of hibernating gray bats at both sites was collected and confirmed as
Geomyces destructans by two separate laboratories. No mortality was observed, so the ultimate impact of the syndrome on gray bats is not known. Bats, as
US Person has pointed out before, are massively valuable as pollinators and insectivores, yet because man has
shirked his duty as planetary steward, no means of controlling the fungus or treating infected bats has been found.
