The fungus amongus

The reason I'm at this park is because of this: White Nose Syndrome.  If you've never heard of it here are some major points

• Fungus that has killed 6 million in North American bats since it's discovery in 2006
• You can watch it grow on the nose and other parts on a bats body
• Affects many species of bats, including several near extinction
• Researchers are scrambling to find a cure or management action to stop slow and reverse the spread of disease.

You can watch how White Nose Syndrome has spread here. The disease is very deadly killing 90-100% of bats in a winter colony or hibernacula.  Before the disease, populations of Northern Long Eared bats were considered healthy but WNS has taken it's toll causing the Northern Long Eared bat to be listed as a "Threatened" species causing the government to organize resources to help protect the Northern Long Eared Bat.

So this summer I'll be looking for the Northern Long Eared Bat in Hot Springs National Park with the hope that if and when a mitigation strategy for WNS is developed we can know where we should or shouldn't be looking for the Northern Long Eared bat.  More on the process in a later post.