Comments on: Bats Worth Billions to Agriculture—But They’re Dying Fast

By: Gil

Gil — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 01:50:36 +0000

I think the problem with captive breeding is that some of the affected species only make one pup per year, so it will make recovery incredibly slow.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 20:31:39 +0000

Step 1: Gather 100 healthy male bats and 100 healthy female bats. These will be kept for breeding should the disease become a critical threat.
Step 2: Gather 100 afflicted bats, for sample analysis, etc.
Step 3: Using fungal samples from the afflicted bats, nail down an antifungal drug and put together a delivery system that focuses on respiration. It’s a pretty safe bet that it’s breathed in, and the white mold collects near their nostrils.
Step 4: Get commercial farming companies to stop spraying pesticides.
Step 5: ???????????
Step 6: Profit!

By: Wesley B

Wesley B — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:34:25 +0000

I thought the bee population had stabilized in 2008. One of my long-term plans is to grow a lot of my own food, including a small bee hive to promote production and plant health over time. I live in the Central Valley area in CA and I remember seeing a “bat shelter” for lack of a better term at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. Maybe we can boost populations with large tracts of these, similar to the concept of a wildlife refuge, to stave off stress on the species while the bats either develop a resistance to this er syndrome (is it a virus, bacteria, or what?) or we develop one through research (though this seems unlikely).
http://www.habitatforbats.org/?page_id=26
Also a quick search comes up with a number of easy-to-construct bat houses one could build in a day, if you would like to attract bats to your area for whatever reason: farming, gardening, general distaste for flying bugs.

By: linda

linda — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:55:52 +0000

No bats….no bees…..it’s so depressing.

By: Iain

Iain — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 03:07:09 +0000

White nose syndrome? Quit importing coke and maybe they’ll get over it.

By: Katharine

Katharine — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:17:56 +0000

Has anyone thought of perhaps captively breeding these animals to bolster wild populations?

By: Chris the Canadian

Chris the Canadian — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:09:57 +0000

2.4 million is a minor drop in a huge bucket. It’s not much at all. The Bee population crash and Bat decline due to disease is NOT A good sign at all for North American Agriculture.

White nose syndrome and the death of billions of bees and their decline = overuse of pesticides and herbicides without knowing their long term effect on the ecosystem? Bet on it. I won’t be surprised if they find one of the leading causes of White nose syndrome leads back to these chemicals.

By: Gil

Gil — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:51:19 +0000

@3 if you already had a cure, you might be able to prove it was effective with $2.4 million. That’s the cheap step, though.

By: Wesley

Wesley — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 04:37:15 +0000

I don’t know, 2.4 million still kind of sounds like a lot. They can’t figure anything out with that much money?

By: Christopher Kandrat

Christopher Kandrat — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 21:46:23 +0000

There goes a large population of our crops and agriculture. Bats are one of the natures best defenses against pests.

By: The Klepto

The Klepto — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 21:38:18 +0000

So, if we can believe the preachers who say natural disasters are because of our sins, that must mean that their are some seriously sinful bats out there. New England must be the home to Bat Sodom and Bat Gomorrah…