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Dying bats called No. 1 mammal crisis in U.S.
CBS News ^ | July 12, 2011 | CBS News

Posted on 07/13/2011 9:49:34 AM PDT by americanophile

(CBS News) The lightning-fast die-off of bats is being called the No. 1 crisis affecting mammals in this country. Scientists from more than 100 state and federal agencies are coordinating their efforts to learn why bats are dying.

CBS News Correspondent Betty Nguyen noted on "The Early Show" that one of the consequences of the bats' deaths is more bugs.

Wildlife officials now are pointing to a fungus they say is killing bats in unprecedented numbers.

It's a desperate situation with no solution in sight.

Nguyen reported bats often get a bad rap as creepy, blood-sucking night creatures. But farmers, like James Roby, actually count on them to eat 100,000 tons of crop-damaging bugs every year.

Roby showed Nguyen a chard leaf, badly damaged by a caterpillar or worm.

He explained, "(The damage) would have been potentially controlled by a bat that would have nailed the moth that would have laid the eggs on this leaf to begin with."

That's not happening because bats are in danger. A fast-spreading fungus has wiped out a million of them in 18 East Coast states.

Roby said of the chard crop, "It's inedible right now; it's just not marketable."

An ailment dubbed White-Nose Syndrome leaves the fungus on a bat's nose, wings and body, and that eventually leads to starvation. The die-off is so great - and so fast - the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife has declared bats the No. 1 mammal in crisis in the U.S.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: bats; endangered; farming; fungus
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This article will no doubt spawn plenty of jokes, but it sounds like a serious problem, not unlike the honey bee problem; bats are hugely beneficial.
1 posted on 07/13/2011 9:49:37 AM PDT by americanophile
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To: americanophile

I know this has resulted in the closure of a number of tourist caves in order to protect the bats from the disease.


2 posted on 07/13/2011 9:52:21 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Amber Lamps !"~~)
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To: americanophile

First bees now bats? weird...


3 posted on 07/13/2011 9:53:12 AM PDT by NMEwithin
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To: americanophile

I thought the number 1 problem for mammals was stinkbugs


4 posted on 07/13/2011 9:53:31 AM PDT by NRA1995 (Obama couldn't run a lemonade stand. Let him eat peas!)
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To: americanophile

No shortage of them around here (central Florida) since the rains woke up the mosquito larvae. Thank Goodness!


5 posted on 07/13/2011 9:53:42 AM PDT by poobear (FACTS - the turd in the punch bowl of liberal thought!)
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To: americanophile

In the evenings as it gets dark there are bats flying all around my house, its fun to watch them dip and dive for the mosquitoes buzzing around. If memory serves they eat almost their body weight each night in bugs, if you have a lot of mosquitoes like I do that can be a big plus.


6 posted on 07/13/2011 9:55:41 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: americanophile

Jeez, in Austin 3 weeks ago we watched 1.5 million bats fly out from under the Congress Avenue bridge at dusk. Doesn’t look like there’s a problem in Central Texas...

Colonel,USAFR


7 posted on 07/13/2011 9:55:48 AM PDT by jagusafr ("We hold these truths to be self-evident...")
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To: americanophile

I sincerely hope that it cross contaminates the moon bats.

Rabbits are up this year, of course cyclical population variation is always unprecedented if you have no true baseline.

Political Science needs to stay the hell out of real science.
{Fat Chance}


8 posted on 07/13/2011 9:57:26 AM PDT by Steamburg (The contents of your wallet is the only language Politicians understand.)
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To: americanophile

There have been several people here who have been bitten by bats this summer. Rabies shots aren’t fun.


9 posted on 07/13/2011 9:57:44 AM PDT by bgill
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To: americanophile
Scientists from more than 100 state and federal agencies are coordinating their efforts to learn why bats are dying.

Photobucket

10 posted on 07/13/2011 10:00:11 AM PDT by Roccus (Obama & Holder LLP, Procurer of arms to the most discerning drug lords (202) 456-1414)
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To: americanophile

I am astounded that there was no mention of global warming or climate change in this article. Maybe even the journalists are starting to get bored/annoyed with that constant meme.


11 posted on 07/13/2011 10:01:31 AM PDT by no gnu taxes
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To: americanophile

There goes baseball.


12 posted on 07/13/2011 10:02:10 AM PDT by org.whodat
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To: Steamburg

I’ve noticed rabbits and snakes are up, hawks (their main predator in my area) are down, and the bats that were abundant in early June are now nowhere to be seen.

This is a strange year (NW Ohio, rural)


13 posted on 07/13/2011 10:04:24 AM PDT by SteamShovel (Smart Grid is Stupid)
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To: americanophile

Bats get the bends!

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/08/25/wind-turbine-bats.html


14 posted on 07/13/2011 10:04:30 AM PDT by Roccus (Obama & Holder LLP, Procurer of arms to the most discerning drug lords (202) 456-1414)
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To: americanophile
This article will no doubt spawn plenty of jokes, but it sounds like a serious problem, not unlike the honey bee problem; bats are hugely beneficial.

First I've heard of this HUGE PROBLEM.

It is already clear to me that only regulatory overkill can possibly save the day. The epa will need to be at least double in size. The call must go out to find humans willing to be sacrificed in this calamity. One of the 50 states will need to be fully depopulated of humans just to make a suitable laboratory to find the answer.

15 posted on 07/13/2011 10:05:17 AM PDT by RobinOfKingston (The instinct toward liberalism is located in the part of the brain called the rectal lobe.)
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To: org.whodat

Don’t tell us it was baseball bats. I was hoping for dingbats.


16 posted on 07/13/2011 10:06:51 AM PDT by ex-snook ("Above all things, truth beareth away the victory")
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To: americanophile

Darwin would say it’s survival of the fittest.

...another proof of the bankruptcy of his ideas.


17 posted on 07/13/2011 10:07:15 AM PDT by fishtank (The denial of original sin is the root of liberalism.)
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To: poobear

Lucky you.

I used to have them swooping over the back yard because the skeeters would congregate around the Koi pond.

I have no more bats but lots of skeeters and I get really awful reactions to their bites.

Riding home on the Harley the other night, I nearly got bonked by a bat diving for the bugs attracted to my head light.

It was the first bat I’ve actually seen, this year.

I miss them.

Bats are cool.


18 posted on 07/13/2011 10:07:15 AM PDT by Salamander (You trap. You kill. You eat. That's what a good spider does.)
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To: americanophile

We’re all dead now anyway, aren’t we? From the honey-bee “crisis”. So this one is too late to matter.


19 posted on 07/13/2011 10:08:21 AM PDT by samtheman
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To: jagusafr

Old Tunnel refuge between Fredricksburg and Comfort Texas has had no shortage at all this, even with the drought.


20 posted on 07/13/2011 10:08:22 AM PDT by Le Chien Rouge
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