View Full Version : Significant Bat die-off in NY, VT and MA
Biologist unsure what may be causing alarming death rate (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/science/25bats.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin) of our bug eating friends In New England states. Possibly the worst North American Bat die-off case in recorded history.
I read this somewhere awhile back. Did they reprint this?
I worry that there is a connection to the bee issue.
Mother Nature. Trying to tell us something.
I read this somewhere awhile back. Did they reprint this?
I worry that there is a connection to the bee issue.
Mother Nature. Trying to tell us something.
This article was printed yesterday but the die-off appears to have been going on for a few years.
One cave had 15,584 bats in 2005, 6,735 in 2007 and an estimated 1,500 this winter. Another went from 1,329 bats in 2006 to 38 this winter. Some biologists fear that 250,000 bats could die this year.
troglobil
03-25-2008, 20:15
Big discussion here http://forums.caves.org/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=6083
BlackCloud
03-26-2008, 10:12
They followed the bees....
I was really surprised the price of honey didn't go up from the bee thing. I guess I shouldn't be buying any futures in Bat guanno either. I had this deal lined up where I only had to keep 2 tons of it in my garage.
warraghiyagey
03-26-2008, 10:18
Hmm, somebody's been listening to his old Steve Martin albums.
Busted
:banana
Well exxcuuuuuuuuse me. :banana
warraghiyagey
03-26-2008, 10:41
Other than that, I have absolutely nothing of any significance or intelligence (shocker, I know) to add to this thread. Sorry Woodsy.
With that said I think maybe it should be moved to 'Sensitive Topics.'
It's only a matter of time.
Other than that, I have absolutely nothing of any significance or intelligence (shocker, I know) to add to this thread. Sorry Woodsy.
With that said I think maybe it should be moved to 'Sensitive Topics.'
It's only a matter of time.
Wouldn't be the first time that happened with JAKs trap flappin:rolleyes:
Appalachian Tater
03-26-2008, 12:13
I was really surprised the price of honey didn't go up from the bee thing. I guess I shouldn't be buying any futures in Bat guanno either. I had this deal lined up where I only had to keep 2 tons of it in my garage.Most of the honey I see is imported from South America and China where the bees seem to be okay.
The bat thing has me almost as worried as the bee thing. Every few weeks there is another news item that slaps your face and says, "Humans are screwing up the planet beyond any hope."
It will be ironic if the bats are dying because we are poisoning the insects they eat in order to prevent disease. Supposedly during the great episodes of plague, people would kill cats since they were suspected of being the cause as they were tools of the devil and witches, allowing the rats infested with fleas carrying the disease to multiply. I don't know how true this is but we can still learn a lesson from it.
I'm so misunderstood. :(
On a more serious tone. I did read someplace that a rediculously high percentage of mammal species are bats. Of course many of these must be very few in number. As you get closer to more tropical regions you tend to have many species, fewer in number, and as you go towards polar regions you ted to get fewer species, but greater in number.
some Bat Facts:
1,100 species of bats worldwide
20% of all mammal species are bats
70% of bat species are insectivores
Another article on Bat dieoff.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=669869&category=REGION&newsdate=3/7/2008
I understand amphibians are most seriously in danger world wide.
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1284