Bats: Gone With the Wind

Science, August 25, 2008

Batman has the Joker; real bats have wind turbines. The energy-generating machines kill bats the world over, yet the exact cause has remained as mysterious as the plot of a movie thriller. Now, a new study appears to have solved the riddle.
For decades, researchers have noticed that mangled birds litter the ground surrounding the machines, and recently they've found that dead bats actually outnumber the birds, by as many as four times in some places. Read more...

Mysterious Disease Claims Lives Of More Than 10,000 Bats In New York Area

ENN, February 29, 2008

Last year at four caves near Albany, N.Y., more than 10,000 bats died from a mysterious disease involving a white fungus growing on some bats’ noses, leading researchers to dub it “white-nose syndrome.”
The mounting death toll stopped last year when spring arrived and the bats left the caves. But the deaths returned with a vengeance after the bats went into hibernation this winter. With 14 known caves infected across New York, Vermont and Massachusetts, scientists estimate as many as 500,000 bats may currently be affected with the syndrome. Read more...