ABOVE: Little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus)
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The fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, a disease that since 2006 has been killing millions of bats as it makes a westward journey across the United States, has been detected in California, the Los Angeles Times reports. Scientists conducting surveillance found infected bats in the northern California town of Chester, situated between the Lassen Volcanic National Park and the Plumas National Forest.
The infected bats, which the surveillance team swabbed for the fungus in 2018 and 2019, represent the first cases in California, according to the White-Nose Syndrome Response Team of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. They are Yuma bats (Myotis yumanensis) and little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus). The scientists have not yet observed bats with the disease itself in the state, however.
“We all thought we were going to have more time before it got this far west,” Winifred Frick, ...
