By Tom Hetman
A solution to white-nose syndrome, which has been killing thousands of bats in six states, has been proposed in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment by Craig K. R. Willis, a biologist at the University of Winnipeg, and Justin G. Boyles, a graduate student at Indiana State University. The bats seem to be waking from hibernation before insects are available and waste valuable energy reserves trying to stay warm. Willis and Boyles propose putting solar powered heat boxes, which could hold up to 200 bats, inside caves for waking bats to warm themselves. The boxes could raise temperatures as high as 80 degrees without disturbing the cave’s environment. Waking bats would seek out the warmest part of the cave so they would probably fly directly to the boxes. Read more here.
