NORRIS, Tenn. — Zoologists made an exciting find recently while surveying caves along the Norris Reservoir: a threatened bat species they had not seen in East Tennessee in years.
The Tennessee Valley Authority said its terrestrial zoologists have finally been able to resume pandemic-paused fieldwork and conducted cave surveys recently to check up on East Tennessee cave life. What they didn't expect to find but were happy they did: a northern long-eared bat.
According to TVA, these bats are not only listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act but notoriously elusive.
“These bats are notoriously hard to find in caves. They’re tiny – they fit in the palm of your hand and hibernate in small crevices or cracks,” said TVA Terrestrial Zoologist Liz Hamrick.
Once relatively plentiful, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency reported their populations have dropped off by more than 98% in the state since 2010.
The reason the bats are considered threatened: white-nose syndrome. It's a fungal disease that spread rapidly across most of the U.S. and is responsible for killing millions of bats in North America. The northern long-eared bat is one of the hardest-hit species, seeing a decline of nearly 99% of its species since the spread of the deadly fungus.
White-nose syndrome is primarily spread between bats, but the National Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey said evidence shows there's a strong possibility it spreads inadvertently from humans to bats because the fungus can be introduced into new caves from clothes and equipment. It's not known to be harmful to humans, but it's devastating to bats.
The TVA cautions people should not explore caves unless they have permission to and not to disturb the bats.
“Disturbing hibernating bats contributes to the decline of this species,” zoologist Jesse Troxler said. “Avoid trespassing in caves and, if you are authorized to explore a cave, take care to not disturb resting bats and disinfect your clothing and gear after each trip.”
Bats are ecologically important to East Tennessee and are critical for farmers as "pest control" since they eat insects that damage crops like moths and beetles.
The zoologists said they continue to monitor bat populations and collect swab samples for WNS. So far, there is no treatment for bats that have it.
“Our data collection supports studies across North America, and we remain hopeful that enough bats are able to survive with white-nose syndrome in their environment that we will start to see increases in populations in the near future,” Hamrick said.