White-Nose Syndrome

A little brown bat infected with white-nose syndrome

Marvin Moriarty/USFWS

What is White-nose syndrome?

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a disease that affects hibernating bats and is caused by a fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, or Pd for short. Sometimes Pd looks like a white fuzz on bats’ faces, which is how the disease got its name. Pd grows in cold, dark and damp places. It attacks the bare skin of bats while they’re hibernating in a relatively inactive state. As it grows, Pd causes changes in bats that make them become active more than usual and burn up fat they need to survive the winter. Bats with white-nose syndrome may do strange things like fly outside in the daytime in the winter.
White-Nose Syndrome was discovered at Devils Tower National Monument in April of 2021.

How deadly is WNS for bats?

This disease does not affect humans, however it has killed millions of bats since it was found in the United States in 2006 in New York. Prior to the discovery of WNS in North America, this disease was unknown to science. Researchers began testing bats globally and found it on bats in Asia and Europe, although those bats did not appear to get as sick from the Pd fungus.
At some North American sites, WNS has killed 90-100 percent of the bat population. There are currently twelve known North American bat species that are affected by WNS across 35 states and 7 Canadian provinces. Two bat species that are hit particularly hard by this disease are the Little Brown Bat and the threatened Northern Long-eared Bat, both of which call Devils Tower National Monument home.
There is currently no cure for WNS, but scientists all accross the world are working to study the disease, how it spreads, how it affects different bat species and what we can all do collectivly to help control it. One thing that is known of WNS is that humans can transmit the Pd fungal spores to unaffected regions on their skin, clothing, or gear if not properly decontaminated after recreating in WNS postive areas.

 

Duration:

3 minutes, 33 seconds

At Devils Tower National Monument, park staff work with other agencies to learn about bat habitat and help protect bats from white-nose syndrome.