What is white-nose syndrome, or WNS?
White-nose syndrome is a malady blamed for the death of more than 1 million bats in the U.S. WNS has been called “the most precipitous wildlife decline in the past century in North America.” The disease is named for the white fungus on the muzzles and skin of affected bats. First documented at a cave in eastern New York’s Schoharie County in February 2006, white-nose has rapidly spread to sites throughout the Northeast and into the Southeast, the Midwest and Canada. WNS is associated with the newly identified fungus Geomyces destructans, which thrives in the cold and humid conditions characteristic of caves and mines used by bats. The fungus could be responsible for the bat deaths or it could be secondary to the cause. All bats affected with WNS do not have obvious fungal growth, but they may display abnormal behavior (see below) in and outside of their hibernacula – caves and mines where bats hibernate during winter.
