White-nose syndrome driving Minnesota’s bats to extinction

White-nose syndrome has greatly affected hibernating bats in just four years in Minnesota. According to the state’s Department of Natural Resources, the disease has wiped out 90 percent to 94 percent of bats in monitored caves and abandoned mines since it was confirmed. Some researchers believe that the species that hibernate in Minnesota will be completely wiped out due to white-nose within the next few years. Species affected include northern long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis) and little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus).

Read more at the Star Tribune.

Header Image: Minnesota bat populations of species such as the little brown bat pictured here have been decimated over the past few years by the onslaught of a fungal killer.
©Jonathan Mays, Wildlife Biologist, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife