White nose syndrome is a disease that threatens the future of many bat species nationwide. Which is why Fort Lewis College Biology professors Steve Fenster and Erin Lehmer are spending the month of June at an abandoned mine in the San Luis Valley.
Their goal is to determine if Mexican free-tailed bats (also called Brazilian free-tailed bats) carry live fungal spores to this mine when they arrive in the spring and leave in the fall as they migrate south for the winter.
Using mist nets, invisible to the bat’s echo detection system, bats are captured, sampled, and released. Back at Fort Lewis College, biology students assist Fenster and Lehmer to determine if bats are carrying the fungus that causes white nose syndrome.
Check out the video below to learn what they found!