A disease first discovered in bats in several caves near Albany, N.Y., last year, has biologists all over the Northeast U.S. going a little batty.
Nearly 11,000 bats died last year near Albany and most of them had a white fungus around their noses. As a result, the epidemic has been coined “white-nose syndrome.”
One of the effected species, the Indiana bat, is protected under the Endangered Species Act. Little brown bats have been the most impacted species, but the disease has also effected northern long-eared, eastern pipistrelle, small-footed and several other bat species using the same caves.
The disease, which was originally found in four caves in New York, has now been found in southwest Vermont and western Massachusetts. As a result, surrounding states such as Pennsylvania have joined other biologists in the northeast region of the country to investigate the mysterious ailment that is offing so many insectivores.
Bucknell professor of biology Dr. DeeAnn Reeder has been collecting data related to the hibernation of bats and the function of their immune systems. She said some feel the spread of the disease is comparable to the colony collapse of honey bees.
Reeder is part of a weekly conference call of researchers whose goal is to figure out the cause of the die-off as quickly as possible.
Biologists are out examining caves across the Keystone State including the Durham Mine Bat Hibernaculum (cave) in upper Berks County, and as of now, the disease has yet to be found amongst the bats examined, said Pennsylvania Game Commission press secretary Jerry Feaser.
“We were just beginning our annual survey of the winter hibernaculum in Pennsylvania when news of this broke,” Feaser said. “We have alerted all our teams and have asked them to monitor it.”
The game commission will continue to coordinate with other states on findings, Feaser said, and continue to do what it can to contribute to the discussion amongst the biology community as to what is causing white-nose syndrome as well as the disease’s role in the bat die-off.
“As of now, biologists are not sure as to whether the die-off is the result of white-nose syndrome or whether it’s a symptom of another disease,” Feaser said.
Feaser added the game commission always discourages spelunking during hibernation periods — which generally comes to an end in early spring — because it causes bats to expend energy important to survival during the hibernation process.
Cave travelers, however, were the first to notify the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of awkward behavior they noticed from bats.
Biologist Susi vonOettinger of the northeast regional office of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been examining caves in Massachusetts and Vermont.
Some of the odd behavior vonOettinger has observed includes bats leaving hibernation early and traveling from warmer parts in the cave to cooler areas, near the opening.
Many bats also look emaciated and flying erratically. They are also flying during the day as opposed to night, and due to their weakened condition, they are extremely vulnerable to predators. Bats are also roosting on the outside of homes rather than making their way inside, experts say.
“The amount of mortality increases each time we return to a cave,” vonOettinger said. “Some of the bats are being collected for testing and we are sending them to various labs in an attempt to find out what it is that is causing this.”
While some may see a die-off of the less than flattering creatures as a blessing, as Reeder points out, bats are a vital part of the ecosystem and a significant loss of the creatures that help control the insect population could have serious implications not only environmentally, but economically in terms of crop damage.
“Preliminary estimates predict that number of deaths will be around 400,000,” Reeder said. “Bats can eat up to 100 percent of their body weight in insects an evening and are a very important part of the ecosystem.”
For more information on white-nose syndrome and precautions to take should you come across a bat that appears to be affected, visit http://www.fws.ogv/northeast/whitenosemessage.html.

Andrew Zechman: 570-742-9671
andrew@standard-journal.com