A fungal disease is wiping-out bats by the millions and it's spreading west.
Bat biologists gathered this summer in British Columbia's Flathead River Valley to take an inventory of local bat species and habitat.
During the so-called "BioBlitz", they detected two species of bat that are considered endangered and particularly vulnerable to the fatal White Nose fungus.
Wildlife Conservation Society Canada bat specialist, Dr. Cori Lausen says there's much more to learn about regional bat populations, but she adds that sort of baseline data is essential.
"We have a lot of work to do before White Nose arrives," said Lausen. "Just to establish what we have, because if we don't know that it's going to be hard to help them recover and it's definitely going to be hard to help them over-winter successfully if there are going to be mitigation strategies that come out of the new research."
Later this week on Montana Evening Edition, scientist Cori Lausen will tell us more about the different types of bat habitat on either side of the border in the Flathead River Valley, how climate change could affect regional bat populations and why people should care about the animals.
Here is a video posted by the biologists about their recent excursion.
http://vimeo.com/109662328