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Isalo National Park, Madagascar (photo: Bernard Gagnon)

160 million years ago, what is now called Madagascar–the world’s fourth largest island–broke free from its parent continent (Africa), allowing evolution to do some of its most creative work.

The Island, located just off the Southeast coast of Africa and roughly the size of California, is home to an amazing array of life-forms found no where else: bats (with suction cup “elbows”), the Silky Sifaka lemur (an ancient line of primate relatives), dozens of “new” species of scorpions and spiders, and an estimated 200 - 400 new species of frog (most of which have yet to be named). There are also numerous, unique species of plants. An estimated 80% of these new species (especially the frogs) exist only in protected areas of Madagascar’s remaining rain forests.

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Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus) during hibernation.

A fungal infection in the Northeastern Little Brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) known as white-nose syndrome has been sickening bats for the past three years. The illness strikes worst when the bats are at their most vulnerable–during their winter hibernation period.

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A new species of Samoan fruit bat or ‘flying fox’ was discovered at the Academy of Sciences in Philadelphia by Kristofer M. Helgen, a Research Zoologist and Curator of Mammals at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Helgen, the lead author of the paper published in American Museum Novitates, noticed the bat within one hour of being on the premises of the Academy of Sciences. (There are about 17 million biological specimens housed at the Academy.)

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Since 2006 an epidemic has been traveling across America, and it’s not swine flu. So called White Nose Syndrome was first identified in caves near Albany, New York, three years ago.  Since then it has spread across the northeast United States and has recently been identified in six more caves in Virginia.

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The inch-long Christmas Island pipistrelle, which weighs about a tenth of an ounce, could become the first Australian mammal to become extinct since the Tasmanian tiger in 1930.

After years of unrequited calls to help the animal, conservationists have asked the government to begin an emergency breeding program for the tiny bat. Environment Minister responded by announcing breeding trials for a similar yet non-threatened population elsewhere to test the viability of breeding the pipistrelle.

Conservationists fear that it may be too little, too late.

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A white fungus is devastating the bats of Connecticut and other Northeastern states.

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The Environment Minister for the Australian territory Christmas Island, Peter Garrett, has publicly said the local pipistrelle bat has decreased in numbers so much that it will likely go extinct.

The population has been in a rapid decline for the last fourteen years. Yet the reasons for the serious drop-off are still not clear.

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A colony of giant African bats has made a dramatic return from the brink of exctinction, thanks to a conservation drive discouraging people from eating them as delicacies.

As recently as 1989, the Pemba Flying Fox, one of Africa’s largest bat species, was critically endangered, with only a few individuals left on Pemba Island, off the coast of Tanzania. Since an intervention by Flora and Fauna International (FFI), numbers have soared to a staggering 22,000.

According to conservation worker, Joy Juma, “At one time roast bat was a very common dish on Pemba. Now people value the bats for different reasons.”

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Oregon-based Iberdrola Renewables has adopted what is arguably the most holistic policy to protect avian and bat populations in the wind energy industry. The plan is modeled in part after the 2005 avian protection plan template (pdf) developed by the Edison Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to address the impacts of transmission and distribution lines on birds.

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Researchers at the University of Calgary found that the vast majority of bats found dead at a wind farm in Southwest Alberta suffered severe injuries to their respiratory systems consistent with a sudden drop in air pressure - called barotrauma.¹ The findings, published in the most recent issue of the journal Current Biology could potentially have far-reaching consequences on bat populations.

Barotrauma is a condition resulting from drastic changes in air pressure occurring, for example, when the bats fly through an area where the pressure drops dramatically, such as it does near a spinning turbine blade.

Historically, less than one bat fatality per turbine per year is considered normal, according to scientists. At this particular wind farm, the numbers were closer to 18 bats per turbine. But researchers found that the vast majority of dead bats had no visible trauma, as if they were being struck by a blade tip moving at 250 km/hr.

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has sent a letter to to the developers of three wind farms in upstate New York strongly urging they consider other locations for their proposed projects. Biologists for the agency are concerned that the wind farms will further threaten imperiled bat populations suffering from an unprecedented die-off.

One of the wind energy developers, Iberdrola Renewables has decided to hold off on moving forward with the Horse Creek project until the impacts of white nose syndrome on bat populations are better understood. But developers of the other two projects have yet to make similar moves.

There is little known about the so-called “white nose syndrome,” so-named because of the white substance found on the face of the sick bats. The unexplained illness has killed of tens of thousands of small brown bats throughout the northeast over the past two winters. As temperatures warm and bats emerge from a winter of hibernation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has sent letters to three Jefferson County (NY) wind developers “strongly urging them to look at other places” for their proposed wind energy projects.

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I was a mere toddler, blanket in one hand, thumb in mouth (think Linus) - wondering what all the fuss was about.

It was dusk and the bats were out, darting this way and that, catching insects as the summer’s sun slid from view, leaving that beautiful blue light before darkness descends.

I shrugged in an awfully precocious manner, looked at mummy, then turned my eyes back to the bats.

And today, Defra (the UK’s Department for Environment, Food And Rural Affairs) have announced that bats are to be used to help measure the biodiversity of the UK.

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Named for the white fungal growth that appears around the noses of infected bats, the condition has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of bats in the Northeastern U.S., mostly in New York but now spreading to other states as well.

The syndrome was first discovered last year in four bat hibernating caves near Albany. It’s now been observed at “virtually every significant bat hibernation site in New York,” according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

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He tells the story of a bat that helped him find areas that would leak heat, and the story of that grasshopper. He shares his views on ethanol and electric automobiles, but you may not agree completely on his choice of a fuel to power electric generating stations.

You’ll find interesting ways to save energy, at home and at work, and also some tips on saving energy if you work at home. His latest post concerns wind energy, saying wind is a form of solar power. Well, enough of this: listen in and enjoy.