“No more cuddling — at least during hibernation.”
That is the advice scientists would like to give bats at risk for contracting white-nose syndrome.
Science News details recent findings from a study led by biologists at the University of California, Santa Cruz –
Certain species pack into tight, dense clusters during hibernation. Whether there are 30 bats or 3,000 in a given cave or mine, some species will crowd together cheek by jowl, shoulder to shoulder. These bats face the gravest risk of infection, the researchers report online July 3 in Ecology Letters. Whether their wintering colony is large or small, the infection rate is the same — massive.
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For bats that prefer to leave a little wiggle room between themselves and hibernating neighbors, white nose risk is lower — and diminishes as a colony’s size shrinks
To many scientists surprise, some species of bats are altering their hibernating behavior in response to the disease. As many as 75% of little brown bats, which usually hibernate in densely-packed groups, are now roosting individually.
Scientists believe that this change in behavior may be the thing that keeps the little brown bat from going extinct.
Let’s hope so.
This whole situation breaks my heart.