Bear Hibernates in Family's Cabin

A Washington state woman was in for a big surprise when she arrived at her family's Montana vacation cabin: It was ransacked, and the family's belongings were strewn everywhere.

"My sister went up for New Year's and thought someone had broken into the cabin," Molly Reynolds told ABC News affiliate KXLY4 in Spokane, Wash.

She realized nothing was taken, but something was definitely there that shouldn't have been: a hibernating black bear that has made the home his own for the season.

Family members were in for an even bigger surprise when they realized the bear had stripped the pillows and a blanket from one of the beds.  

After inspecting the cabin, Reynolds' uncle found a small, broken trap door leading to the crawl space between the home and the ground. Once he went inside he saw two bright eyes staring back at him.

"We had a bear crawl up through the crawl space of our cabin and he took out some pillows and some bedding and took it back underneath the cabin," Molly Reynolds told KXLY4. "I thought that was a comfortable place for him with the bedding and he's been there ever since."

Reynolds refused to have the bear moved.

"We told [wildlife officials] that we didn't want to disrupt the bear or have him hurt in any way," Reynolds told ABC affiliate KXLY4. "We don't use the cabin right now, so we didn't feel there was the need to get him out."

They even nicknamed the sleeping bear Blue. From the looks of it, the bear seemed rather large, so the Reynoldses hope when they go back to their cabin, a family of bears won't be waiting.

"We wondered if there were going to be little babies, but I don't know that yet," Reynolds told ABC affiliate KXLY4.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/bear-hibernates-familys-cabin-204458504--abc-news.html

Do lazy mammals live longer?

Small furry mammals partial to a daily dose of hibernation in winter are probably extending their lifespan at the same time, according to a study published Wednesday.

Experiments with Djugarian hamsters native to Siberia showed that when the tiny rodents temporarily lower their metabolism and body temperatures, a state called torpor, it stops and even reverses a natural breakdown of chromosomes linked to ageing.

Previous studies had hinted at a causal link between hibernation and longevity, but this is the first one to show the biological mechanism that may account for it.

In the laboratory, researchers led by Christopher Turbill of the Institute for Wildlife Ecology in Vienna created an artificial environment for 25 adult virgin female hamsters, offering only eight hours of light per day.

The faux-winter conditions were designed to trigger a hibernation response, according to the study, published Wednesday by the British Royal Society in the journal Biology Letters.

For 180 days, half the rodents basked in a relatively balmy 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit), while the others half lived in a chillier clime, about 9.0 C (48 F). Both groups enjoyed all-you-can-eat buffet.

In measuring the results, the researchers distinguished between shallow torpor, when body temperature dipped below 29 C (84 F), and deep torpor, when temperature dropped under 25 C (77 C), nearly 10 C (18 F) below normal.

They inserted micro-transponders under the animals' skin to keep track of the changes.

Turbill and colleagues suspected that the energy-saving, coma-like state had an impact on telomeres, which sit like tiny caps on the ends of chromosomes, protecting the precious strands of genetic code.

Telomeres and telomerase, the enzyme that control them, are a key agent in ageing and longevity.

Every time a cell divides, the telomeres get worn down a little bit. The enzyme's job is to partially rebuild them. Eventually, when the telomeres are worn beyond repair, cell death is triggered.

Australian-American cell biologist Elizabeth Blackburn, who shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine for her work in the field, likened telomeres to the "tips of shoelaces" - lose the little plastic end, and the lace starts to fray.

For the hamsters, daily torpor, which typically lasted several hours, somehow acted to preserve these protective tips and even to restore them, the study found.

"This effect was stronger in hamsters using deep torpor, which was primarily in the cold," Turbill said in an email exchange.

Interestingly, these same hamsters also expended more energy, reflected in their higher food intake.

The findings, he added, "are probably applicable to all animals that use some form or torpor or hibernation."

That, alas, does not include humans.

"Torpor and sleep are completely different - and possibly incompatible - states," Turbill said. Humans do not significantly lower their body temperature when sleeping, nor is there a comparable slowdown in metabolic rate.

"So far, science has not come close to finding a way for humans to enter some form of hibernation."

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/do-lazy-mammals-live-longer-2355971.html

Nature Studies by Michael McCarthy: In search of another great moth snowstorm

One of the lousiest aspects of the lousy summer which ended yesterday, for me at least, was that for yet another year, there was no chance of witnessing the moth snowstorm. Not in England, anyway.

Five sodden summers on the trot – July 2006 was the last time it was truly baking for anything more than the blink of an eye – seems like an unconscionably long time to go without all-enveloping warmth, almost as if we're being punished. Maybe we are. Maybe we've offended heaven by having impure hearts. Or giving way to greed. Or splitting infinitives. Or something.

But the point I am making about yet another wretchedly damp and chilly June, July and (especially) August, is that if it was bad for us, it was even worse for insects, which, being cold-blooded, need ambient heat above a certain level simply to be able to function, let alone flourish. There was no chance of seeing of one of the spectacular flourishings of the insect world, that crowding-together of moths on warm summer nights, so abundant that if you drive a car through them you have to wash your windscreen afterwards.

In the headlights it does indeed seem like a blizzard, a myriad of white flakes whirling through the dark towards you. Or at least it did. For the moth snowstorm, as I and many people think of it and remember it, seems to be a phenomenon of the past. When I asked Mark Parsons about it, the top moths bod at the charity Butterfly Conservation, he told me he recalled seeing it on many occasions 20 or 30 years ago, but, he said, "I've probably only witnessed it once or twice in the last decade".

Its disappearance seems to be a particularly notable instance of the great thinning-out of our wildlife which has taken place in the last half-century, probably because of the intensification of farming: things are still there, but an awful lot fewer of them. Yet it was a supreme example of natural abundance, arising from the simple fact that moths are multitudinous.

We tend to think that Lepidoptera, the order of insects with scaly wings, contains butterflies first and moths second, as a sort of afterthought; but actually it's the other way round. Moths were going for millions of years, and so had ample time to develop into a multitude of species, before butterflies came along as a mere branching twig on the Lepidopteran evolutionary tree; in essence, butterflies are merely a group of moths which have specialised in flying during the day and so have evolved bright colours to recognise each other.

Thus, there are about a quarter of a million moth species in the world but fewer than 20,000 types of butterfly; and in Britain there are nearly 900 larger moths, while butterfly species number fewer than 60.

We don't see this, because most moths are nocturnal. Yet it is possible to fish them out of the night, if you become more and more interested in them and eventually go into full Moth Nerd Mode, as I did in June when my wife asked me what I would like for my birthday, and I said: "A moth trap".

She paused. She said: "Wouldn't you like an iPod?"

I said: "I'd like a moth trap, please."

She said: "You haven't got an iPod. They're great. You can load all your music onto them. Even the old stuff that you like. You could listen to the children's, just to get the idea. They won't mind. Why don't you have a listen?"

I said: "Moth trap."

She sighed then and went away shaking her head, but her being the good egg that she is, the moth trap duly arrived, in a parcel big enough to hold a lavatory bowl. It's basically just a box with a lamp and a narrow entrance, through which moths, attracted by the lamp, fly in, but can't get out till you release them (having identified them first from your guide).

It is astounding in its effect. On my first use of it, in west London on one of the few warm nights in June, it tempted out several species which I never dreamed were living during the day in the surrounding suburban vegetation, ranging from the dark arches and the riband wave to the broad-bordered yellow underwing.

But then in August I took it with us on holiday to Normandy, and on a sultry night in a country garden, on the edge of an orchard, it excelled itself, attracting scores and scores of examples of more than a dozen species, some of them spectacular: at midnight six Jersey Tiger moths, which are exquisite, were flying round the lamp, as part of a swarming cloud of insects flashing in and out of the halo of light.

It was the moth snowstorm, I thought. Still there, in France. But I wish I could see it in England.

The butterflies' last hurrah

As for butterflies – even though summer's over, there are three late-occurring species worth looking out for: the silver-spotted skipper, the brown hairstreak (the female of which is fabulous) and the clouded yellow, a lovely immigrant from the continent. Plus the colourful quartet of red admiral, peacock, tortoiseshell and painted lady, now in their second broods and feeding up frantically on buddleia nectar, as the first three of them are preparing to hibernate in a corner of your shed.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/nature_studies/nature-studies-by-michael-mccarthy-in-search-of-another-great-moth-snowstorm-2347670.html

Hibernating Bears 'A Metabolic Marvel'

by Joe Palca
February 18, 2011

For the first time, scientists say they have been able to monitor a bear's vital signs continuously during a six-month period of hibernation. To their surprise, the researchers discovered that despite lowering its metabolism by 75 percent, a hibernating bear's internal temperature barely drops at all.

The bear study took place at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. The bears spent the winter in a hibernaculum — basically a big box. The researchers weren't sure whether the bears would be willing to spend the winter in this small, artificial cave.

"We anticipated they might just tear the place up or go on strike or something," says Brian Barnes, one of the authors of the new study. "But they actually showed very natural behavior of getting ready to hibernate. They curl up, they go to sleep. They begin to quiet their heart rate, slow their breathing and their metabolic rate plunges."

The fact that a bear could reduce its metabolism so much with such a small drop in temperature was a surprise. Barnes says two factors appear to be responsible. First, a bear has a lot of fat and thick fur, so it is well-insulated. Second, when a bear's internal temperature drops below about 90 degrees Fahrenheit (99 degrees is normal for a bear), it starts to shiver. The shivering produces heat, and the bear's temperature rises a few degrees. This periodic shivering occurs throughout the winter.

'A Closed System'

Barnes says just about everything a bear does while hibernating is remarkable.

"Bears don't eat, drink, urinate or defecate for six or seven months," he says. They make their own water, probably by metabolizing fat, and they get rid of wastes by breaking them down internally. "They're a closed system. All they need is air, and they can do just fine. They're a metabolic marvel," he says.

One of the things bears do with waste is to use the calcium in it to keep their bones strong. A human who is bedridden for months will start to lose bone mass, but Seth Donahue, a professor of biomedical engineering at Michigan Technological University, says his research shows that doesn't happen with bears.

"Basically we found that there were no negative consequences of six months of hibernation on the bone strength or mineral content," says Donahue.

It's not just the bones in bears that stay strong throughout the winter.

"They have this neat capacity to preserve their muscle mass as well as muscle strength," says Hank Harlow at the University of Wyoming. Preserving muscle size and strength is also pretty remarkable. Human muscles will shrink if they aren't used regularly, and Harlow says it would be a boon to medicine if scientists could figure out how a bear keeps that from happening.

Craig Heller, a professor of biology at Stanford University and an author of the new bear paper, says for people bedridden for long periods, or who are contemplating a long space voyage such as going to Mars and back, figuring out how to make a human more like a hibernating bear would have some advantages.

"One would be lowering the energy requirement so you don't need as much food and water and resources, but another is just reducing the boredom," says Heller.

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/18/133849231/hibernating-bears-a-metabolic-marvel

Female Cantabrian bears and their young do not hibernate

Proof of observations first made in 14th century

October 2010: New research suggesting Spain's female brown bears do not hibernate while cubs are still young proves anecdotal evidence first recorded many centuries ago.

Results of work carried out by a team of Spanish scientists who followed the brown bear population through the mountains of the Cantabrian Cordillera between 1998 and 2007, confirm that female bears with babies and independent young bears under the age of two do not usually hibernate, while the other bears follow normal hibernation patterns.


Brown bears all over the world hibernate, but according to historical documents this is not always the case. The Libro de la Montería by King Alfonso XI, dating back to the 14th Century, mentions that female bears with young born during the previous year did not go to sleep in the winter, or at least not all of them. Many centuries later, these new observations demonstrate this phenomenon among two bear populations in the Cordillera Cantábrica mountain chain.

‘During our monitoring of female bears with young, which we did in the east of the Cordillera Cantábrica on the basis of footprints and tracks, we saw that some animals stayed active throughout the whole winter,' Carlos Nores, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Natural Resources and Zoning Institute (INDUROT) of the University of Oviedo (UNIOVI) and vice president of the Brown Bear Foundation, tells SINC.

The study, which has been published in the journal Acta Theriologica, covers the period from 1998 to 2007, during which time female bears with young were monitored between December and March. ‘The winter track count showed that female bears with young cubs aged between 11 and 14 months show signs of continuous activity, as do young bears of two years of age that are starting to become independent, although they do hibernate more than when they were in the family group,' says Nores.

The scientists showed that the seven family groups in the two bear populations did not stop eating or defecating over the period of observation, confirming that ‘they did not enter the physiological state of hibernation at any time', the biologist explains.

According to the researchers, the absence of hibernation seen in the Cordillera Cantábrica mountains ‘has nothing to do with the harshness of the weather conditions, or snow levels being above or below average'.

Without young, bears hibernate
The other bears aged over two years old, including females about to give birth or without any young to care for, exhibited ‘a significant reduction in activity between January and February, corresponding with predictable hibernation behaviour', the Asturian researcher points out.

However, while counting footprints over the course of a decade has made it possible to prove habitual wintertime activity among family groups and young, recently-independent bears in the Cordillera Cantábrica, ‘it does not prove that they are truly not hibernating', says Nores.

‘Bears may occasionally leave their caves during hibernation, but during true hibernation they do not eat, drink or defecate, although they may do so sporadically,' the scientist says.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/bears-hibernation.html

Female Cantabrian bears and their young do not hibernate

Proof of observations first made in 14th century

October 2010: New research suggesting Spain's female brown bears do not hibernate while cubs are still young proves anecdotal evidence first recorded many centuries ago.

Results of work carried out by a team of Spanish scientists who followed the brown bear population through the mountains of the Cantabrian Cordillera between 1998 and 2007, confirm that female bears with babies and independent young bears under the age of two do not usually hibernate, while the other bears follow normal hibernation patterns.


Brown bears all over the world hibernate, but according to historical documents this is not always the case. The Libro de la Montería by King Alfonso XI, dating back to the 14th Century, mentions that female bears with young born during the previous year did not go to sleep in the winter, or at least not all of them. Many centuries later, these new observations demonstrate this phenomenon among two bear populations in the Cordillera Cantábrica mountain chain.

‘During our monitoring of female bears with young, which we did in the east of the Cordillera Cantábrica on the basis of footprints and tracks, we saw that some animals stayed active throughout the whole winter,' Carlos Nores, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Natural Resources and Zoning Institute (INDUROT) of the University of Oviedo (UNIOVI) and vice president of the Brown Bear Foundation, tells SINC.

The study, which has been published in the journal Acta Theriologica, covers the period from 1998 to 2007, during which time female bears with young were monitored between December and March. ‘The winter track count showed that female bears with young cubs aged between 11 and 14 months show signs of continuous activity, as do young bears of two years of age that are starting to become independent, although they do hibernate more than when they were in the family group,' says Nores.

The scientists showed that the seven family groups in the two bear populations did not stop eating or defecating over the period of observation, confirming that ‘they did not enter the physiological state of hibernation at any time', the biologist explains.

According to the researchers, the absence of hibernation seen in the Cordillera Cantábrica mountains ‘has nothing to do with the harshness of the weather conditions, or snow levels being above or below average'.

Without young, bears hibernate
The other bears aged over two years old, including females about to give birth or without any young to care for, exhibited ‘a significant reduction in activity between January and February, corresponding with predictable hibernation behaviour', the Asturian researcher points out.

However, while counting footprints over the course of a decade has made it possible to prove habitual wintertime activity among family groups and young, recently-independent bears in the Cordillera Cantábrica, ‘it does not prove that they are truly not hibernating', says Nores.

‘Bears may occasionally leave their caves during hibernation, but during true hibernation they do not eat, drink or defecate, although they may do so sporadically,' the scientist says.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/bears-hibernation.html

Adders waking up from long winter sleep

RIGHT: Photo by Prof Stuart Harrop

As winter comes to an end Wildwood is starting to see the first proof of the arrival of spring amongst those animals that have slept through the cold weather.

Wildwoods adders are beginning to wake up from their long hibernation and are being hand fed by the keepers in a Wildwoods reptile room.

The lizards, frogs and pond tortoises are expected to be waking up soon too as the weather improves.

"It is always exciting to see them waking up", commented Ali Bennett a keeper at Wildwood "We are always concerned that some of them might not survive their hibernation and getting them to eat their first meal is always a challenge".

Visitors to the park will start to see them in their enclosures as the weather gets warmer.

Adders, frogs, lizards and pond tortoises are just some of the huge range of British animals that can be seen at the Wildwood Discovery Park, for more information visit the website at www.wildwoodtrust.org or telephone 0871 782 0087.

Wildwood is an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British Wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here, like the wolf, beaver, red squirrel, wild boar and many more.

Wildwood is situated close to Canterbury, just off the A291 between Herne Bay and Canterbury. For more information visit our website at www.wildwoodtrust.org or telephone 0871 782008.

RIGHT: Photo by Wildwood

More information about Adders

Adder, common viper

Vipera berus

Adders are the most northerly distributed snake - they are the only species found inside the Arctic circle. They are also Britain's only venomous reptile.

Subspecies

There are four subspecies. Vipera berus berus has the greatest range and is the subspecies found in Britain.

Statistics

Length: 50-65cm. Females are larger than the males.

Physical Description

Adders are relatively short and robust with large heads and a rounded snout. The red-brown eyes have vertical elliptical, rather then round, pupils - a feature of all venomous snakes. Males are usually a grey or buff colour with vivid black markings, although they can also vary from silver to yellow or green in colour. Females are brown with dark red-brown markings that are less prominent than in the males. Both sexes have a zigzag pattern running along the back with a / or X-shaped marking at the rear of the head, although this zigzag pattern may be replaced by a straight brown stripe with dark spots on either side. Adders have black undersides. Melanistic (black) individuals sometimes occur in mountainous regions.

Distribution

Adders are widespread throughout mainland Britain, but are absent from Ireland. They occur throughout Europe, with the exception of the Mediterranean islands, and across Russia and Asia through to N. China. They are one of the most widespread species of snake.

Habitat

Adders occupy a variety of habitats, including open woodland, hedgerows, moorland, sand dunes, riverbanks, bogs, heathland and mountains. They prefer undisturbed countryside and can be found in surprisingly wet habitats throughout the summer months.

Diet

Adders use venom to immobilise prey such as lizards, amphibians, nestlings and small mammals. After striking their prey, they will leave the venom to take effect before following the victim’s scent to find the body. This is an economical way of hunting, avoiding any damage that could be caused by struggling with prey.

Behaviour

Adders are active during the day, spending time basking until their body temperature is high enough to hunt for food. In some of the hotter countries of their range, they may emerge at dawn and dusk to avoid the intense heat. Mating takes place between April and May, with males often fighting for females. They rear up at each other and try to push the head of their opponent onto the ground. Eventually, one male will give up and search for another mate. Adders hibernate from September to March when temperatures dip below nine degrees Celsius, often using deserted rabbit or rodent burrows, or settling under logs. They sometimes hibernate communally. Males emerge 2-5 weeks before the females and shed their skin before setting off in search of females.

Reproduction

Males follow the females around until she allows them to copulate with her. This takes place in April-May. Adders have a 3 to 4 month gestation period and are one of the few snakes that are viviparous (give birth to live young). In late August females give birth to between 5 and 20 live young, although usually the number is between 6 and 10. The young remain close to their mother for a few days, before going off in search of food. Females do not breed on consecutive years, as they do not have time to build up sufficient fat reserves to produce another set of young from one breeding season to the next.

Conservation status

Adders are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 from being killed, injured or sold.

Notes

Adders are not aggressive snakes, and will only attack if harassed or threatened. Although an adder’s venom poses little danger to a healthy adult human, the bite is very painful and requires urgent medical attention.

Warm weather is cold comfort

10:41am Thursday 18th February 2010

The heavy snow and cold weather we have been experiencing this winter have come as something of a surprise to many of us. We have become used to mild temperatures and sometimes heavy rainfalls, but a fortnight of snow is something that many only remember from their childhood.

Extreme cold causes living things all sorts of problems.

Freezing temperatures turn water into ice so that animals cannot drink, and plants cannot take up water through their roots.

However, the wildlife that lives in, or visits, the British Isles is well adapted to low temperatures and a shortage of food.

Many species are descendants of the survivors of the last Ice Age. And they also managed to get through the ‘Little Ice Age’ that spanned the 16th to 19th centuries, when even the River Thames would famously freeze over regularly.

So, is this recent spell of cold weather really a threat to them?

When viewed on its own it would seem not to be a problem, but in the context of the erratic weather conditions that we have seen over recent years. a more sinister picture emerges.

Think back to the summer floods of 2006 and 2007, or the scorcher of 2003, and you realise that wildlife is increasingly and rapidly facing unpredictable conditions.

Conditions that are forcing it to change survival techniques developed over thousands of years.

Some animals cannot find enough food during the winter months to sustain them, so they slow their body processes to almost a standstill to survive — a process called hibernation.

The hedgehog, pictured right, is perhaps the most well-known hibernator in Britain. It fattens up on slugs, snails and other minibeasts in the autumn, and spends the cold months curled up in a sleep-like state in a cosy nest of leaves and dry grass.

Other mammals, such as bats and dormice, also rely on hibernation to survive the winter.

But hibernating animals do not stay asleep all through the winter; they will wake up on warmer days and look for food or water. They will also wake up if the temperature drops too low, and start shivering in order to keep their body from freezing.

Every time they wake up, they use a great deal of energy which makes it more difficult to survive when food supplies are low, especially if the warm spell is followed by a particularly deep freeze, like the one we have recently experienced.

Debbie Lewis, reserves ecology manager at BBOWT, said: “The effects of the changing weather patterns can cause additional stress on hedgehog populations that are already affected by loss of habitat due to intensive farming and urban development.

“Many of our reserves may look a little scruffy round the edges in the winter, but these areas have been specifically left with tall vegetation and piles of old wood so that they can provide a great location for hedgehogs to snuggle up in during the winter.”

Cold-blooded animals have developed other ways of survival. Some invertebrates release chemicals into their body fluids which prevent them from freezing, similar to the way anti-freeze works in the radiator of a car. Many caterpillars, some butterflies, slugs, snails, queen wasps and bumblebees spend the winter in this way.

Bumblebees typify the dangers that changing climate conditions pose to wildlife that uses this winter survival technique. Wild bumblebees can be found well into the Arctic Circle and they are able to fly and look for food in lower temperatures than honey bees.

The queen is capable of founding a whole new colony and she is the only one that survives through the winter. If periods of unseasonably mild weather cause her to come out of her dormant state too early, a subsequent cold spell could be devastating for the precious cargo of eggs, thus destroying a potential new colony.

It will take wildlife a long time to adapt to changing conditions, and ironically the changing weather patterns can produce some positive effects.

A particularly warm or wet winter, for example, could result in a wealth of slugs or insects, a vital source of food for many animals. But a return to cold weather could bring with it further problems.

There are two ways in which we can help wildlife cope with these erratic changes in weather patterns, by tackling the cause of the problem and by helping to alleviate its symptoms.

The cause of the problem is well known. There is now ample scientific evidence that changes in weather patterns are closely linked to climate change and the corresponding rise in greenhouse gases caused by human activity.

So, reducing your own carbon footprint is a first step in helping stabilise climate.

The second part of the solution is to keep protecting our best wildlife habitats and species, and to minimise other sources of damage so that there is the maximum diversity as we go into an uncertain future.

BBOWT manages its reserves to include a diversity of habitat structure, which includes graded woodland edges, scrub patches, tall herbs and short turf.

This creates varied habitats and niches for wildlife to thrive in, as well as safe havens from the weather and predators, and areas rich with food sources.

Matt Jackson, head of policy, planning and wider countryside at BBOWT, said: “We are already seeing the effects of a changing climate with new species arriving on nature reserves and others struggling to cope with changes in food supply.

“The real worry is the rate of change. We need to do anything we can to slow down how rapidly our climate changes to give habitats and species as much time as possible to adapt, and as much space as possible to do it in.”

The cold snap might not have hurt wildlife as much as we thought, but it is a sign of greater changes in climate conditions that could have a devastating effect on our local wildlife.

To find out more about how to join or volunteer for BBOWT go to www.bbowt.org.uk
Picture: Mike Taylor/ www.seeing.org

http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/leisure/5014991.Warm_weather_is_cold_comfort/

As Bats Begin Hibernation, Deaths Expected

The mysterious white-nose syndrome is expected to continue afflicting bats this winter.

By Jessica Marshall Fri Oct 30, 2009

It won't be long before millions of bats settle into caves and mines across the country to hibernate. But the sad truth is that many in the East will never see the warmth of spring.

More than a million bats have died so far from white-nose syndrome, a still-mysterious bat killer that has spread throughout the Northeast and into Virginia and West Virginia, since it was first detected in New York in 2006.

Experts will be waiting to see how far the syndrome advances this winter. They fear it may make it into Kentucky and Indiana, where most endangered Indiana bats live in fewer than 10 caves or mines.

Why should we care about the fuzzy little flyers? Somewhere between 20 and 25 percent of all mammalian species in the U.S. are bats, according to Hazel Barton of the University of Northern Kentucky in Highland Heights.

The average bat eats 600 insects a night. With more than a million bat deaths last winter, 693 tons more insects buzzed and fluttered around the white-nose syndrome's range this summer, including moths that act as crop pests and mosquitoes that can carry West Nile Virus.

"If we lose the bat population in North America," Barton said. "Everyone will notice."

The outbreak recently prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to award $800,000 in grants to explore the cause and control of the rampant disease. Exactly how the bats die is not yet certain, but it appears that a cold-and-damp-loving fungus infects the bats' noses and wings while they hibernate, dusting their muzzles and wings powdery white.

"The bats are almost at the ambient temperature of the cave. Their immune response is almost nonexistent," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Jeremy Coleman, who heads the agency's white-nose syndrome programs. "They're like sitting ducks."

Bats normally waken from hibernation anywhere from every week to every few weeks, depending on the species and conditions. They heat themselves back up to normal temperature, groom themselves, fly around and then settle back into hibernation.

Researchers do not know why the bats do this. They may need water, or to shed waste. One idea is that they fire up their immune systems during their arousal period to scan for threats.

Although these arousals only happen a few times during the winter, they take a lot of energy -- perhaps more than 80 percent of the bats' fat stores.

Infected bats have more frequent arousals -- as often as every few days. "We don't know why they are aroused more frequently -- if it's itching or agitation or if it is something they're detecting," Coleman said.

These extra arousals may cause the bats to exhaust their fat stores far too soon.

"Bats are leaving the sites in the middle of winter," Coleman said. "Are bats starving and going out looking for food? That's what most people are saying. There is some evidence that these bats aren't actually starving when they go out on the landscape. Maybe they are agitated and have recognized that there is a problem with the site. Maybe they're looking for somewhere else to go."

Other unknowns include when and how the disease spreads from cave to cave and bat to bat. It may be that the bats transfer it to new caves when they swarm together in fall. They may also transfer it during the summer, but the fungus is intolerant of warm temperatures, so that is less likely, Coleman said.

Some bats survive the infection, perhaps because they were infected late in winter and therefore had the reserves to make it to spring. But many of these die in spring from an inability to forage successfully for food because the fungus has damaged their wings.

The sweeping lethality of the disease over just four winters makes extinction a real risk.

To protect against this possibility, the National Zoo will establish a captive population of Virginian big-eared bats, an endangered subspecies of big-eared bat, as a security population.

Few places have kept insectivorous bats in captivity, so the work will be a challenge, said Nucharin Songsasen, who is heading the project at the Zoo's Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia. "But if we don't do anything there is a chance that this species will go extinct within a couple of years," she added.

In Vermont, researchers are reintroducing bats into caves whose bat populations were wiped out by the syndrome to see how long the fungus persists and whether caves can be successfully re-colonized.

Meanwhile, Barton, of the University of Northern Kentucky, is testing a plant-based antifungal compound to see if it can be used to kill the white-nose fungus in caves and on bats without wiping out the critical fungal communities that form the foundation of cave ecosystems.

http://news.discovery.com/animals/bats-white-nose-syndrome.html

As Bats Begin Hibernation, Deaths Expected

The mysterious white-nose syndrome is expected to continue afflicting bats this winter.

By Jessica Marshall Fri Oct 30, 2009

It won't be long before millions of bats settle into caves and mines across the country to hibernate. But the sad truth is that many in the East will never see the warmth of spring.

More than a million bats have died so far from white-nose syndrome, a still-mysterious bat killer that has spread throughout the Northeast and into Virginia and West Virginia, since it was first detected in New York in 2006.

Experts will be waiting to see how far the syndrome advances this winter. They fear it may make it into Kentucky and Indiana, where most endangered Indiana bats live in fewer than 10 caves or mines.

Why should we care about the fuzzy little flyers? Somewhere between 20 and 25 percent of all mammalian species in the U.S. are bats, according to Hazel Barton of the University of Northern Kentucky in Highland Heights.

The average bat eats 600 insects a night. With more than a million bat deaths last winter, 693 tons more insects buzzed and fluttered around the white-nose syndrome's range this summer, including moths that act as crop pests and mosquitoes that can carry West Nile Virus.

"If we lose the bat population in North America," Barton said. "Everyone will notice."

The outbreak recently prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to award $800,000 in grants to explore the cause and control of the rampant disease. Exactly how the bats die is not yet certain, but it appears that a cold-and-damp-loving fungus infects the bats' noses and wings while they hibernate, dusting their muzzles and wings powdery white.

"The bats are almost at the ambient temperature of the cave. Their immune response is almost nonexistent," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Jeremy Coleman, who heads the agency's white-nose syndrome programs. "They're like sitting ducks."

Bats normally waken from hibernation anywhere from every week to every few weeks, depending on the species and conditions. They heat themselves back up to normal temperature, groom themselves, fly around and then settle back into hibernation.

Researchers do not know why the bats do this. They may need water, or to shed waste. One idea is that they fire up their immune systems during their arousal period to scan for threats.

Although these arousals only happen a few times during the winter, they take a lot of energy -- perhaps more than 80 percent of the bats' fat stores.

Infected bats have more frequent arousals -- as often as every few days. "We don't know why they are aroused more frequently -- if it's itching or agitation or if it is something they're detecting," Coleman said.

These extra arousals may cause the bats to exhaust their fat stores far too soon.

"Bats are leaving the sites in the middle of winter," Coleman said. "Are bats starving and going out looking for food? That's what most people are saying. There is some evidence that these bats aren't actually starving when they go out on the landscape. Maybe they are agitated and have recognized that there is a problem with the site. Maybe they're looking for somewhere else to go."

Other unknowns include when and how the disease spreads from cave to cave and bat to bat. It may be that the bats transfer it to new caves when they swarm together in fall. They may also transfer it during the summer, but the fungus is intolerant of warm temperatures, so that is less likely, Coleman said.

Some bats survive the infection, perhaps because they were infected late in winter and therefore had the reserves to make it to spring. But many of these die in spring from an inability to forage successfully for food because the fungus has damaged their wings.

The sweeping lethality of the disease over just four winters makes extinction a real risk.

To protect against this possibility, the National Zoo will establish a captive population of Virginian big-eared bats, an endangered subspecies of big-eared bat, as a security population.

Few places have kept insectivorous bats in captivity, so the work will be a challenge, said Nucharin Songsasen, who is heading the project at the Zoo's Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia. "But if we don't do anything there is a chance that this species will go extinct within a couple of years," she added.

In Vermont, researchers are reintroducing bats into caves whose bat populations were wiped out by the syndrome to see how long the fungus persists and whether caves can be successfully re-colonized.

Meanwhile, Barton, of the University of Northern Kentucky, is testing a plant-based antifungal compound to see if it can be used to kill the white-nose fungus in caves and on bats without wiping out the critical fungal communities that form the foundation of cave ecosystems.

http://news.discovery.com/animals/bats-white-nose-syndrome.html