Bats are under the deadly threat of the white-nose syndrome.

The fungal disease is especially threatening for a rare bat species, the Indiana bat. As temperatures decrease with the oncoming fall, the Indiana bat migrates through southeastern Iowa. Louisa County Naturalist Lana Artz-McComb says, “The Indiana bat is here but it is not very common. So that’s one of the reasons why we work to protect them, because there aren’t as many of them as there are other species of bats.”

The Indiana bat has brownish-black fur and is smaller than two inches in length. Artz-McComb says in contrast to other bat species, Indiana bats tend to hibernate in large groups, which can increase the spread of infection. Artz-McComb describes how bats react to the infection, “The bat is trying to hibernate. So they have a set amount of energy to work with to make it through the entire winter. And if they get an infection their bodies try to fight that infection, so they use up their energy store before winter is over.”

Human disturbance during hibernation is also a cause in the decrease of the Indiana bat population. Starrs Cave in Burlington is closed for the foreseeable future as bats are currently hibernating there, in order to preserve their population.