Bat Demise May be Overstated

There was an article in today’s Chautauquan Daily about the bats and White Nose Syndrome. A young woman working towards her master’s degree at the University of New York Fredonia is counting bats on the grounds of the Chautauqua Institution. The fungus grows in cold temperatures and spreads during hibernation. She is doing a baseline study here to establish what a healthy bat population looks like. She measures the bats and establishes body fat and body mass. She says the bats at Chautauqua appear to be fat and healthy, in contrast to the conversation I overhead last week, although there have been thousands of bat deaths overall. Bats return to the same place year to year if their housing is intact according to the article. I may have to go to the “Bat Chat” later this week. The bat lady does it once a week and, although I’ve seen it in the program book, I’ve never been that interested. But guess it’s just something else to learn about here.

Here's a link to bat pictures. If we were living where Carol is I might get one of my own.