Why "white-nose syndrome" that has been wreaking havoc on the country's bat population for quite a while now is hitting a fever pitch, with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service warning that the little guys might soon be extinct thanks to the deadly fungus.
The fungus causes bats to behave strangely during winter months—flying outside during the day and clustering near the entrances of caves and mines where they hibernate—and it eventually eats through bats' skin and destroys their membranes. Wildlife officials estimate that as many as 6.7 million bats have died already, and the disease is only spreading.
And whether or not you think the little guys are creepy or cute, they do have their benefits: "Bats provide tremendous value to the U.S. economy as natural pest control for American farms and forests every year, while playing an essential role in helping to control insects that can spread disease to people,” said Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe. “Unlike some of the extinction events or population depletion events we’ve seen in the past, we’re looking at a whole group of animals here, not just one species,” said Mylea Bayless of Bat Conservation International in Austin. "We don’t know what that means, but it could be catastrophic.”
