Tag WNS

Trouble in Texas

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. I have some bad news this week. Unfortunately, scientists have confirmed that a bat in Texas has been found with White Nose Syndrome. This is the first time a bat…

Fight the Fungus!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I am very excited for Thanksgiving break! I get almost a whole week off school! Then it’s only three more weeks until Winter Vacation!  I have some interesting news to…

Trouble in the heartland

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. And I hope you had a very happy Friday the 13th! I have some sad news. The fungus that causes White Nose Syndrome was recently detected in North Dakota for…

When bloggers travel…

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I went to Montreal for vacation! It was amazing. Montreal is a great city to visit and I highly recommend it. While I didn’t get to see lots of bats flying around at night, I know that Montreal has some cute ones. I decided to write this week’s blog on a little bat from Canada. The Eastern Small-footed bat is adorable! It is the smallest bat in North America and is only about 20 cm long with its wings stretched out. It has, as its name suggests, small feet. Their feet are less than half an inch long! Isn’t that adorable? They have brown fur with golden highlights, and a black furry face and ears. Their range is all the way from Virginia and West Virginia, into Pennsylvania, New York, and Canada. Even though they have a very big range, the Eastern Small-footed bat is the rarest bat in North America. One reason this species is threatened is because of problems with their roosts. They roost in caves, mines, and even under large rocks and other tight crevices. Many of their roosts are being disturbed while the bats are hibernating. Another serious problem these bats are facing is White Nose Syndrome. It is estimated that White Nose Syndrome has killed 12% of the species. When combined with other threats to the species, WNS is having a devastating affect on the Eastern Small-footed Bat. If you would like to read more about this bat, you can find information here.

What’s Up in (the sky) Wyoming?

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. It was nice and relaxing. I wish it could be summer all year long!  I found an article about the Northern Long-eared Bats in Wyoming. These bats are on the endangered species list and need all they help that they can get from bigger creatures like us. A group of bat researchers from the University of Wyoming drove out to the Black Hills in order to study these bats. This can be very difficult because bats are agile flyers and don’t like to be caught in nets. The bats aren’t hurt and are released as soon as they are fitted with transmitters. This study was important because the researchers are looking at where the bats live, and if any of them has come into contact with the fungus that causes White Nose Syndrome.  In addition to the Northern Long-eared Bats they were there to study, researchers also found Western Small-footed, Little Brown, Big Brown, Hoary bats. One of the bats they found was a mother Northern Long-eared Bat. Luckily, White Nose Syndrome hasn’t been found in the area’s Northern Long-eared Bats, but it has been spotted less than 200 miles away in Fort Laramie, and Jewel Cave National Monument in South Dakota which is only 65 miles away.  The researchers needed to study these bats because there is a logging team nearby. They were worried because the loggers are chopping down ponderosa pine trees, which are very important to the area’s Northern Long-eared Bats because they are used for maternity roosts. In order to make sure that the loggers don’t cut down any trees being used by the bats, researchers capture the mothers, glue trackers on their backs, and follow them back to their homes.  The researchers were happy to […]

Saskatchewan: Corner Gas and Little Brown Bats, Hooray!

Today’s blog is dedicated to the people of Saskatchewan, Canada. I was very sad to hear about the terrible accident last weekend. I know this is a very difficult time for the people of Saskatchewan and for many people throughout Canada. Please know that my thoughts are with you. I hope you all had a good week! I am happy to report that I get to enjoy a long weekend! Friday was the end of the 3rd quarter at school, so we had an early release and we get to stay home Monday! Isn’t that amazing? I plan on sleeping late and going shopping. This week, I researched bats of Saskatchewan. They have 8 species of bats there. Many of the bats they have there are the same species that we have here in Virginia. There is one special little bat that they have that is no longer found here in Fairfax, Virginia. That’s right! The people of Saskatchewan are lucky enough to still have little brown bats. They have little Lucys flying in the night sky! Sadly, all of our little brown bats have passed away due to White Nose Syndrome. I was happy to discover the little brown bats who call Saskatchewan home are doing well. For those of us who have never been lucky enough to see a little brown bat flying around, they are adorable. They have yellowy-brown to light brown fur and are smaller than big brown bats. If these bats are able to avoid WNS, they can live up to 33 years. That makes them one of the longest lived mammals for their size. If you want to learn more about little brown bats, you can find information on the Save Lucy Website:  http://virginiabats.org. And now, I am happy to announce that this Tuesday, […]

This April, a little March Sadness

[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”5″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_slideshow” gallery_width=”600″ gallery_height=”400″ cycle_effect=”fade” cycle_interval=”5″ show_thumbnail_link=”0″ thumbnail_link_text=”Bats of WNS” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″] The images above are white nose species we have hosted at Save Lucy. Not all species are imperiled equally, but all of them, even the more common ones, are in need of conservation action. — Ed. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. Mine started off well because it was Easter. I like Easter! I got to eat a lot of candy and candy makes me happy. Sadly, my wonderful vacation and holiday had to come to an end. I went to school on Tuesday. I had to give a 10-minute speech in my English class on Wednesday. I also had exams. It was awful! Something else happened this week that was even more awful than my suffering. The fungus that causes White Nose Syndrome has been found in two new places. First, it was found in Kansas. Kansas is the 32nd state that the fungus has been found in. Several bats were found to have the disease in Cherokee County in Southeast Kansas and in Barber County in South central Kansas. This news made me very sad. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the fungus has now been found in Central Texas. It was found in the Panhandle of Texas last year and it seems to be spreading. It has now been found in 4 new Texas counties. They found the fungus on cave bats, tri-colored bats, Townsend’s big-eared bats, and on a Mexican free-tailed bat. The detection of the fungus on a Mexican free-tailed bat was particularly worrisome. Scientists don’t think these bats are susceptible to WNS, but since they migrate in such large numbers, they are worried the disease could spread further. If you would like to read […]