Over 1 Million Bats Die of "White Noise Syndrome"

White noise—it’s what keeps babies cooing, what made Michael Keaton a decent amount of money, and what creeps my sister out when she’s trying to sleep. (Seriously though, a lot of people have made money off the phrase—check out all of these movies and song albums titled White Noise. Doesn’t it strike you as mildly ironic that so many artists want to be known as “meaningless chatter”?)

Apparently it’s also a syndrome affecting bats. If you’re a bat lover like me, this will be distressing news to you. (And if you’re not, why the heck why aren’t you? Read Baby Bat’s Lullaby, google “baby bat videos” and know that some bats can eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes an hour! Want to build a bat box now?) This “white noise syndrome” has been killing bats all over the Northeast. Over a million have died so far.

According to Discovery news, though millions of bats will be hibernating in mines and caves this winter, this disease will be wiping out many of them before spring even arrives. First discovered in 2006, it’s also hit the areas of Virginia and West Virginia.

Knowing that scientists think it might hit the Midwest, I’m even more worried. We count on bats around here as natural pest killers. And given that we live very close to a river, mosquitoes can be very high; in fact, they even prevent me from taking part in outdoor activities sometimes. Without bats, I can’t even imagine how high the population will soar. It’s not just mosquitoes, either; average bats eat about 600 different kinds of bugs every night.

Experts say that with the loss of more than a million bats last year, we had 693 tons more insects this year—which, of course, included bothersome mosquitoes as well as crop-devouring moths.

Well, that explains it.  Bug zappers, anyone?

Plus, there’s the added frailty of endangered bats. In Indiana alone there are less than 10 bat habitats—caves and mines—that contain the most endangered bats. The possibility of losing these species makes the problem even more critical.

And you may have heard that mammalian species are steadily declining overall; seeing as bats make up nearly 25% of American mammals, their dwindling populations will make a severe impact on these numbers as well.

So what’s being done about it? So far, there has been $800,000 awarded in grant money for scientists to look into the problem and fix it already. The disease is so mysterious, we don’t even know why the bats are dying—though a fungus may be to blame. And with their poor immune systems, bats simply can’t cope with an invasive species in their native habitats.

Maybe the answer lies in the installation of dehumidifiers in these caves and mines…