If you think a bat stuffed animal should only come out on Halloween, you would be wrong. For those that rank bats right up there with teddy bears, a bat stuffed animal should be around at any time of the year.
While we often take animals out in the wild for granted, thinking they will be around forever, we forget that they are susceptible to life threatening diseases just like humans are. White-nose syndrome is a fungus that kills bats and there are at least nine bat species in the United States most affected by it.
Plush Dolphin
According to a leading expert [on bats] who works for the USDA Forest Service's Southern Research Station, bats living in the states of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee are most affected. In addition, the fungus appears to be spreading at an alarming rate through much of the northeastern United States.
Veteran wildlife researcher, Susan Loeb, Ph.D. Says "in the five states where most of my research is centered, little-brown bats and Indiana bats are among the most threatened by WNS - meaning their populations could either be seriously decimated or become extinct." Loeb also has great concerns about other species of bats including small-footed bats, norther long-eared bats, and Eastern pipistrelles - either because their populations are small or they are more likely - compared to other bat species - to catch the fungus, or both. In addition, the fungus could also spread to the Virginia big-eared bat, Rafinesque's big-eared bat, gray bat, and southeastern bat.
The role of bats in the forests and other landscapes is a crucial one as they keep them both productive and healthy. In a single night, just five bats can consume thousands of insects the size of a mosquito. Bats living in tropical and sub-tropical regions are responsible for pollinating a variety of agricultural plants as well as dispersing seeds. Due to habitat destruction and/or loss, and both degradation and disturbance of maternity roosts, bat populations in the United States in general, have been on the decline over the years.
Susan Loeb is just one of many scientists who are studying bat populations specifically as they relate to the spread of the WNS fungus. As Loeb's research tracks bat migration, it will assist in the monitoring and spreading of WNS in the South. As for the East, Loeb is also working on a bat database which will give researchers insight into various bat distributions and movements so as to better understand how WNS is spreading. So far, WNS is confirmed in 11 states: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee and, it has also arrived in Canada.
A bat stuffed animal has the very lucky fortune of never being susceptible to catching a disease, but it's reputation in the soft toy world is not exactly on par with the ever-popular teddy bear. It takes a certain kind of person to choose a bat stuffed animal but once done, you'll wonder what took you so gosh-darn long.
Copyright Shelley Vassall, 2010.
Bat Stuffed Animals and the Diseases Facing the Real Thing
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