NC is home to seventeen species of bat, and the fungal disease white nose syndrome is decimating some populations.
I had more info, but it didn't post because I took so long, so I will ad an abridged version here. The bats most affected here are the little brown, little footed, and tricolored bat. And populations affected are for the most part in NC are in the mountains.
Researchers at the U of New Hampshire have discovered that a brief exposure of a few seconds to uv light kills the fungus that causes the disease. They plan to find hibernating colonies and treat them for WNS. Hopefully, this can turn things around for these very beneficial night flyers..
"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust
I remember a night game at Arrowhead - the bats were having a feeding frenzy in the lights. I only recall seeing it at one night game over the 29 seasons with tickets.
I had bats in my attic a few years ago. Discovered them in late June, early July. Had to wait over a month to get rid of them b/c the law says we cannot harm them, they had had babies, and the babies would be left behind in the attic if I had them removed before they were old enough to fly out themselves. Creepy. Could hear them rustling around right over my head at night. And it cost hundreds of $ to clean up the guano.
Also helps reduce diseases transmitted by insects, like West Nile. Bats are one of the least common sources of rabies transmission, we just hear about it related to bats all the time because people are weird about bats.
Edit: That apparently isn't true in the USA (bats are the most common source of rabies in humans in that States, but at less than 20 cases per year they're probably doing more good than harm in terms of disease prevention). It appears to be true worldwide though.
Went to Linville caverns last summer and we had to do the same procedure with the antifungal foot wash. Certain spots of the caves were off limits, and the guide said if they couldn't get it under control, they would have to close the caves until further notice as a precaution.
On a side note on that trip, my wife and I took a selfie and a young girl that was a guide happened to be in the background. She tried to jump out of the picture, and when she realized she didn't make it out of the frame, she immediately came up to us almost in a panic and said, "so sorry, but you have to delete that. I don't want to be in it. If you like, I can take it for you." I agreed and I could tell she swiped back a couple of pictures to make sure I had actually deleted it.
Later on, after the tour, an Asian family that spoke broken English asked her to take a picture with their two young kids. She looked mortified and refused, and nearly ran away into the gift shop.
Weird.
"A Mocca man in a wigwam sitting on a Reservation
With a big black hole in the belly of his soul
Waiting on an explanation
While the white man sits on his fat can
And takes pictures of the Navajo
Every time he clicks his Kodak pics
He steals a little bit of soul
Every time he clicks his Kodak pics
He steals a little bit of soul."
-- John Prine
Maybe she thought you were trying to steal her soul. Of maybe she's on the run.
Whoa, wait a minute there:
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[redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.
This guy says hello, too.
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He is right. Flying squirrels glide, not fly. But funny stuff anyway..lol