Is White Nose Syndrome in Wisconsin?
The answer is it has been found in Wisconsin, but it’s not sweeping across the state yet!
What is white nose syndrome?
It is a fungus that cannot grow above 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Those who have studied White-Nose Syndrome have noticed once the bats have been affected by the fungus, they come out of hibernation more frequently. Their hibernation periods are shortened and causing a great deal of stress on the bats themselves. “The fungus colonizes this exquisitely delicate skin… and causes profound damage, impacting the ability of the animal to fly, which it has to do in order to feed itself. In addition, these wings also mediate functions like release of CO2 while the animals are hibernating and otherwise breathing at very low rates.”
Why don’t bats have White-nose syndrome during summer?
A bat’s body temperature is about 98 to a 100 degrees Fahrenheit when it’s metabolically active during summer. In order to make it through the harsh winters in Wisconsin bats build of fat reserves that help them make it through the cold winter months. Most years that is late October until April. We have observed bats in attics that have been hibernating, their body temperature is about the same as the about 44 degrees Fahrenheit. Herein is where the problem lies according to scientist from Wisconsin, this lower body temperature allows the fungus to grow.
Can you explain how bats hibernate?
We get this question a lot and customers that live in southeastern Wisconsin always have questions about if there really are bats hibernating in my attic. Bat hibernation is a very complicated process. Bats go into hibernation for a period of about two to three weeks, and then they come out of hibernation for an hour and then they go back into hibernation for two to three weeks, and then come out for about an hour. They even mate sometimes during those arousal periods. These arousals that they display during this time are not well understood, but are believed to be essential to their physiological health of the bats. This explains why customers hear noises for short times during winter and then nothing for a few weeks. Sometimes weather plays a role in the waking of bats out of hibernation. The complexity of this cycle of bat hibernation is truly amazing! And yet people doubt that God exists! An article that stated “they might only be taking two, three, four breaths a minute during hibernation, and so they can passively off-load some percentage of the CO2 that accumulates in their blood through their wing skin.” How about that for an amazing fact about our winged friends!
What is Advanced Wildlife Control doing about this disease?
We are providing the DNR with whatever information that we can in an effort to give facts for the Scientists that are making great strides with this awful disease. Bat conservation is vital to our environment in Southeastern Wisconsin, without bats the disease spreading mosquito population would be at an all-time high. The effects on the ecosystem alone could be devastating. We will continue to work with those in Wisconsin to make sure that our bat populations can survive for years to come!