The article includes interviews with some of the researchers who are leading the effort to understand and halt the spread of Geomyces destructans, the fungus that causes white nose syndrome (WNS) in hibernating bats.

Quammen makes it clear we are still far from fully understanding the hows and whys of this emerging bat scourge. Many questions remain unanswered including “What might America look like without any hibernating bats?” Hopefully, it’s a question we will never learn the answer to.

The article is both informative and entertainingly written, as evidenced by this paragraph:

“While Kennedy and the others work, I linger before an astounding sight. On the tan limestone wall of one chamber, lit dimly by the ricochet of our headlamps, hangs a single thick mass of gray fur. It’s a cozy, inert aggregate of living bat bodies, clinging two-deep, three-deep, and cheek by jowl with one another, their little clawed feet hooked to the porous vertical rock. They form a solid, irregular patch, as big as a living room carpet. This single patch, I’m told, might encompass 300,000 bats. It resembles a buffalo robe. It resembles a huge, dark amoeba. It puts me in mind of a giant Rorschach blot, testing our visions of the future.”

Recommended reading.

I happened upon the article whilst perusing the magazine rack at a local Barnes and Noble as I waited for  a latte. There are still some good reasons to visit a brick and mortar book store once in awhile.

Currently, reports from eight countries in Europe have described bats with white mold on their wings and muzzles and four countries—Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, and France—have identified the mold as Geomyces destructans. Despite the presence of the fungus, however, bats in these countries remain healthy.

Complicating matters further is a 1983 report that includes a photograph of a bat in Germany with a “powdery white substance around its muzzle.” It goes on to say that several such bats were observed in caves during surveys. If it is, in fact, Geomyces destructans it means that European bats had been contending with the fungus for at least 23 years before it made its first appearance in the United States.

This is some uplifting news on the WNS front, when there has been pretty much only bad news in recent months. It is possible that genetic and immunological analysis and comparison of European and North American bats could point to a solution such as a treatment or even a vaccine.

No signs of WNS on these "happy" bats (Justin Lindsay)