There's a bad news for the bats. Almost millions of bats have been killed by a deadly fungus across the Northeast and now the fungus has reached Texas. This fungus causes a dreadful disease for the bats, White-nose syndrome.
According to Phys.org, it has been confirmed by the conservationists and the state and federal wildlife officials in the month of March only, that the deadly fungus has now reached Texas. The fungal infection has been found in bats in the Texas panhandle called white-nose syndrome. Earlier it was spread across the Northeast region but now it has been spread over Southwest regions as well.
The white-nose syndrome has affected mainly three species of bats in the Texas - the tri-coloured bat, cave myotis and Townsend's big-eared bat. The highly affected species is the tri-colored bat species, whereas the other two still remains largely unaffected till now. Cave myotis and Townsend's big-eared bat are the primarily western species.
Los Angeles Times reported that the white-nose syndrome was first found and discovered in the year 2007 in New York and has been spreading as an epidemic since that time but slowly. The deadly fungus which causes this disease is called Pseudogymnoascus destructans or Pd. These fungi prosper in the cold and damp areas, where a large number of bats hibernate during the winters.
Bats which are infected by the white-nose syndrome show white noses, spreading to wings, ear or tail due to the fungus. The time, they are supposed to hibernate in caves, they are seen to fly. The fungus directly affects the bat's warm body temperature and the active immune system.
Katie Gillies, the director of Bat Conservation International has informed the sources that this is the most devastating wildlife disease, which needs to be dealt right now or the bat population will be at risk. Researchers are still studying the various methods they can use to stop the spreading of this white-nose syndrome to save the bats and fight the disease before it gets spread to the south and the west.
