Through our experience at BioBlitz at the New York Botanical Gardens (NYBG) on September 6th, 2014, we were able to attain endless knowledge on bats. Our leader, Kaitlyn Parkins, informed us of the horrific white-nose syndrome (WNS). First documented in New York, WNS has spread rapidly across the eastern United States and Canada. WNS has killed more than 5.7 million bats in eastern North America. Of the 47 species of bat in North America, more than half hibernate each winter (1). The main symptom associated with WNS is the white fungus (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) that appears on the muzzle and other parts of hibernating bats (2). To this day, seven species have been confirmed to have died from WNS. One of these species, the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), was actually observed at the NYBG. Parkins informed us that 99% of little-brown bats in New York have died due to white-nose syndrome since its discovery in the winter of 2006-2007 (3).
http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/seminar3posters/files/gravity_forms/1-f14ea90e75361cb91bd42582a860ee01/2014/12/White-Nose-Syndrome-Bats-Final_FL-3.pdf
Anthony Scarallo, Kenan Redzematovic
Lotti, Henkle
City College
bats, noses, whiteness
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