Bat fact 10: There are over 1,100 species of bats in the world.
Bats comprise nearly 25% of all mammal species. More than 50% of the 45 bat species in the U.S. are in decline – and 8 species are endangered.
Pictured: Endangered lesser long-nosed bat (left) and Mexican long-tongued bat (right)
Bats in peril: White-nose Syndrome (WNS)
One of the most urgent issues facing bats in the U.S. is White-nose Syndrome. This devastating disease is wiping out bat populations at an alarming rate, putting several bat species at risk of extinction. According to biologists, White-nose Syndrome has caused “the most precipitous wildlife decline in the past century in North America”.
While they are in the hibernacula, affected bats often have white fungus on their muzzles and other parts of their bodies. They may have low body fat. These bats often move to cold parts of the hibernacula, fly during the day and during cold winter weather when the insects they feed upon are not available, and exhibit other uncharacteristic behavior.
Despite the continuing search to find the source of this condition by numerous laboratories and state and federal biologists, the cause of the bat deaths remains unknown. Recent identification of a cold-loving fungus could be a step toward an answer.
Bat Conservation International warns that WNS has spread beyond the Northeastern region of the U.S. and is poised to reach Midwestern and Southern states in the near future.
To learn more about what you can do to help protect bats, visit Bat Conservation International.
Sources:
- Bat Conservation International
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Humane Society
- Encyclopedia Smithsonian
- Defenders of Wildlife
- Scientific American
Images: istock.com, unless otherwise noted.
About Rhishja Cota-Larson
This is actually not true. Recent studies have shown that bats belong to a clade called Laurasiatheria, that includes moles, shrews, cetaceans, ungulates, carnivores, pangolines, etc. Primates, on the other hand, are more closely related to lagomorphs and rodents than to bats. A good review of the higher-level phylogeny of mammals is “The new framework for understanding placental mammal evolution” BioEssays (2009) 31: 853-864
I didn’t realize bats pollinated! This is especially good since I had heard that honeybees are disappearing (I guess due to insecticides or other reasons – I’m not sure why).