Bat-tling White-Nose Syndrome with GPS Tracking

The webbed-winged creatures that have long been a mystery to most people are now offering researchers a chance to find out more about them thanks to GPS tracking technology.

In the United States, bats are being linked to a deadly fungal condition called the white-nose syndrome, which is estimated to have killed up to 6.7 million bats throughout the US and in Canada, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This estimate represents an alarming and significant increase of bat fatalities from previous estimates.

At its current rate of spread, the disease could spread to California in less than five years. Evidence of the disease was first found in a bat cave in New York in 2006, but has been rapidly spreading. States as far south as Alabama and as far west as Missouri are seeing evidence of the fungal syndrome, which has spread to 21 states in America and 4 provinces in Canada.

Since bats can dine on up to 1,000 plus mosquitoes an hour, the ramification of bat fatalities from the spread of white-nose syndrome for human diseases like West Nile virus is a very real cause of concern.

Because of this concern and the preservation of the species overall, this past summer bats in the areas impacted by white-nose syndrome region were monitored using GPS tracking units to help assess their whereabouts and track their population densities. Since the mortality rate of the white-nose syndrome disease approaches 100 percent, researchers are also hoping to find out more about why some bats die from the disease and a tiny portion others are able to survive.

Besides GPS tracking, artificial bat caves are being explored in order to save bats from the spread of white-nose syndrome, which a recent CBS news story aired.

But the United States isn’t the only country using GPS tracking technology on bats. In Isreal, Egyptian fruit bats were recently equipped with small GPS tracking units to let Israeli researchers learn more about them. The goal was to find out what they do each night as they navigate the darkness, specifically how they roam through the trees in the dead of night as well as their motions in various caves. The GPS units on the Egyptian fruit bats weighed less than a half-ounce to make it easy for the bats to behave as normal with the unit attached.

In another area of the world, GPS tracking is being used to track another type of bat, called the flying fox. Australian officials have resorted to GPS tracking devices for monitoring the location and movements of flying foxes. This is done with the intent of reducing the Hendra virus, which is associated with these types of bats, and is often spread to other bat species as well as horses. GPS tracking units will be outfitted on the flying foxes in Australia, which will provide real-time data for their movements, flying time, foraging activities, and sleeping habits.

Using GPS technology isn’t a new concept, but it is one that is continuing to advance for tracking and monitoring various animals, including bats. But bats are one of the hardest creatures to track in the world, due to the dark caves they frequent and their elusive, mysterious nature. Thanks to these small GPS units, researchers will be able to monitor their movements and whereabouts and use that data to help preserve the species.

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