A recent study, published in Science, concludes that little brown bats are likely to be extinct within two decades, possibly sooner. According to bat conservation experts, this is “the most precipitous decline of North American wildlife in recorded history.” Since its discovery in a New York State cave in 2006, the fungus called Geomyces destructans has killed about a million cave-dwelling bats of several different species. Bats afflicted with white-nose syndrome show white fungal splotches. Irritated by the fungus, which destroys the underlying tissue, bats rouse from hibernation early. They are underweight and quickly deplete their energy reserves. The disease has spread with astonishing speed, reaching Oklahoma this spring. It is difficult to imagine that an entire species, whose numbers are historically very large, could actually disappear. The sky at dusk used to be filled with bats, each one eating its body weight in insects nightly. Without them, the balance of nature will be changed, with potentially significant impact on agriculture and forestry, which have always depended — almost without knowing it — on the role of insectivorous bats.
