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News Articles: bats

A Mexican free-tailed bat emerges from a bat box mounted behind the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon recently.

Tagged as: 

  • Science

How you can count bats in the name of science

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources is asking everyday people to help by counting bats on summer evenings. 

May 17, 2023
|
By:
  • Grant Blankenship
Researchers examine an evening bat while handling it for scientific measurements during a night of data collection on creek in Macon in 2015. The data collected that night is just one point in a just published seven year study of Georgia's bats.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

PHOTOS: Georgia's bat populations are crashing, but signs of hope emerge in some habitats

A study of Georgia’s bats describes which parts of the state provide refuge for at least one species in the face of the ongoing, cataclysmic crash of bat populations in some habitats.

April 21, 2023
|
By:
  • Grant Blankenship
tk

Tagged as: 

  • Global Health

You asked about bats, pets, immunity and other hot viral topics! We've got answers

In response to our series on spillover viruses, you had many questions: from the role of climate change to possible benefits. We turn the mic to you for a special edition of 'Hidden Viruses.'

March 25, 2023
|
By:
  • Ari Daniel,
  • Michaeleen Doucleff,
  • and 1 more
Bats congregate in the Bat Cave in Queen Elizabeth National Park on August 24, 2018. Scientists placed GPS devices on some of the bats to determine flight patterns and how they transmit Marburg virus to humans. Approximately 50,000 bats dwell in the cave.

Tagged as: 

  • Global Health

The Marburg outbreak in Equatorial Guinea is a concern — and a chance for progress

Marburg virus is hard to detect early on--and goes on to kill about half its victims. Researchers hope to work quickly during this outbreak to make progress on emerging vaccines and treatments.

February 17, 2023
|
By:
  • Fran Kritz
A field researcher holds a male bat that was trapped in an overhead net as part of an effort to find out how the animals pass Nipah virus to humans. The animal will be tested for the virus, examined and ultimately released.

Tagged as: 

  • Global Health

The Nipah virus has a kill rate of 70%. Bats carry it. But how does it jump to humans?

Nipah virus, which can rapidly infect and kill members of a community, is carried by bats. Exactly how does it cross over into humans? Researchers in Bangladesh are trying to find out.

February 02, 2023
|
By:
  • Ari Daniel and
  • Rebecca Davis
A tricolored bat.

Tagged as: 

  • News

Tricolored bat population at risk of endangerment in Georgia

A species of bat that can be found throughout the state of Georgia are tricolored bats. They are considered one of the smallest bats located along the east coast of the U.S., weighing an average of less than half an ounce.

January 31, 2023
|
By:
  • Ambria Burton
A Mexican free-tailed bat hangs out in an incubator after getting some fluids.

Tagged as: 

  • Animals

1,600 bats fell to the ground during Houston's cold snap. Here's how they were saved

After hundreds of Mexican free-tailed bats went into hypothermic shock during the city's recent cold snap, they lost their grip and fell. But they found a temporary home: the attic of Mary Warwick.

December 28, 2022
|
By:
  • The Associated Press
The northern long-eared bat is the third bat species recommended for endangered status this year due to white-nose syndrome.

Tagged as: 

  • National

Northern long-eared bat, devastated by a fungus, is now listed as endangered

The Biden administration declared the northern long-eared bat endangered on Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to save a species driven to the brink of extinction by white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease.

November 29, 2022
|
By:
  • The Associated Press
The black flying fox is one of the bats in Australia that carries the Hendra virus — which sometimes spills over to horses, and humans, with devastating impact. Scientists are trying to figure out what triggers spillovers — and how to stop them.

Tagged as: 

  • Global Health

An elegant way to stop deadly Hendra virus spillovers from bats to horses ... to us

New research points to a surprising way to stop spillovers of Hendra virus, which is harbored by bats. It's not often that it jumps to horses, then humans, but when it does, the result are brutal.

November 17, 2022
|
By:
  • Ari Daniel
White-nose syndrome, a fungus that attacks bats during hibernation, is decimating bat populations across North America, including the tricolored bat pictured above.

Tagged as: 

  • Animals

Tricolored bats could become endangered as a fungal disease decimates their population

White-nose syndrome is killing off many bat colonies across North America. The same disease is decimating the northern long-eared bat population, which is also on the brink of extinction.

September 13, 2022
|
By:
  • Dustin Jones
Rabies is a preventable viral disease. Human fatalities are rare and typically occur in people who don't get treatment quickly. Here, a vial and box of rabies vaccine.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

A Man Died From Rabies In Illinois. Here's Why That's So Unusual In The U.S.

The Illinois Department of Health says an elderly man died from rabies after waking up with a bat on his neck and refusing rabies treatment. It's the first case in the state since 1954.

September 29, 2021
|
By:
  • Deepa Shivaram
After listening to hours of bat pups in the wild, scientists have identified eight characteristics of babbling that are shared by human babies and the greater sac-winged bat.

Tagged as: 

  • Science

Bats Love To Babble — Just Like Humans

New research finds that sac-winged bat pups — a species of bat found in Central and South America — like to "babble" in ways that are remarkably similar to human babies.

August 19, 2021
|
By:
  • Geoff Brumfiel
Bat cave in Macon

Tagged as: 

  • Animals

Macon Museum's Bat Cave Offers A Unique Animal Experience

These bats are part of an exhibit opened by the museum in February and can be seen hanging from the ceiling of a large, realistic cave near the museum’s pavilion area. 

June 21, 2021
|
By:
  • Micah Johnston

Tagged as: 

  • Global Health

How Do We Stop The Next Pandemic? Here's A New Strategy

For decades, the U.S. has spent many millions hunting down viruses in hope of stopping a pandemic. Yet the efforts failed. A group of researchers thinks there's a better strategy for the future.

April 22, 2021
|
By:
  • Michaeleen Doucleff
A researcher with Franceville International Medical Research Centre collects bats in a net on November 25, 2020 inside a cave in Gabon. Scientists are looking for potential sources for a possible next coronavirus pandemic.

Tagged as: 

  • Global Health

Next Pandemic: Scientists Fear Another Coronavirus Could Jump From Animals To Humans

Researchers worry another coronavirus will spill over from a bat or some other creature. They're hunting for sources — and finding evidence that a new pandemic could be around the corner.

March 19, 2021
|
By:
  • Michaeleen Doucleff
  • Load More

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