Snag at Ranges-Threats to Bats
Which of these are bad for bats?
A. Humans walking in caves
B. Thunderstorms
C. Lakes
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Answer: The answer is A.
Throughout North America, millions of bats have been killed by a disease known as White Nose Syndrome (WNS). This disease is caused by a fungal infection and largely impacts cave dwelling bats. This disease is extremely deadly to bats, with some areas experiencing 90%-100% death rate at infection sites. This disease impacts hibernating bats, causing unusual behavior (like flying around in the middle of the day during winter), and causes infected bats to wake up far more often than healthy bats, which leads to the faster burning of their fat reserves and eventual starvation before spring arrives. In later stages, infected bats will get fuzzy, white growths on their noses, hence the name of the disease.
WNS can be spread in many ways, whether through bat on bat contact or encountering the fungus in a cave. But another way it is spread is by people. When a spelunker (a person who explores caves) goes into a cave where the disease has been, they can carry the fungus out on their shoes or clothes. Then, if they don’t clean their gear properly, they can spread it to other, healthy, caves.
White nose syndrome has not yet appeared in Florida, and the state has taken steps to try and prevent WNS from getting into Florida’s caves. The best thing you can do to help is to never wear clothing or shoes that have been in a cave outside of Florida into a cave in Florida.
Image 19: Tricolored bat with WNS
WNS isn’t the only major threat to bats, habitat loss is another big threat, which we talked about at Bat House 1. When bats lose habitat, there are less resources and more chances for disease, which leads to a drop in population.
Something that goes hand in hand with habitat loss is human fears and human interests. We have a huge effect on the world around us, changing it to suit our needs and wants. When people see something that they don’t understand and fear, like bats, they tend to want to avoid or get rid of it. As such, many bats are killed because of human fears, whether because they were found roosting in someone's house or through fears of disease like Covid-19 (see Bat house 8), they pay the price for it.
As for human interests, fields, forests, and other places are turned into parking garages or neighborhoods. Sometimes areas where bats live are used for natural resources, destroying that environment. Spraying fields and canals for bugs reduces food sources.
The point is that human fears, human interests, in essence, human impact, can be a threat to bats. Which is why putting bat boxes up, and learning more about bats is so important. It helps lessen the effect.
Directions:
To get to Bat House 8, continue west towards the slingshot range, which is just past Archery. Bat House 8 is on a slash pine right in the sling shot range. DO NOT cross the rope. You will be able to scan the QR code without going into the range.