Deadly Fungus Driving Some Bat Species To Endangerment
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Federal biologists are studying whether they need Endangered Species protection for two bat species getting hit by the white nose fungus, which has killed over a million bats since is showed up in 2006.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's John Cody reports, Ann Froschauer of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says simply, the disease is pretty scary.
LISTEN: Newsradio 780's John Cody reports
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"It comes into the caves when the bats are hibernating," she said. "Their immune systems are depressed. Their body temperature is really low. This fungus is a cold-loving fungus, so it can only grow in those conditions; the cold conditions."
Froschauer says the white nose fungus has killed between 90 and 100 percent of members in colonies of the eastern small-foot and northern long-ear bats.
