Quote Originally Posted by bikersk
Wow that's interesting. Do you have any thoughts yet as to what might be contributing to this? I know you said the cause is not yet known but just wondering if you have any ideas yet? In Australia there has been a recent problem of Tasmanian Devils contracting fatal facial tumours which threatens their existence. [url]http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2007/1902683.htm[\url]
and
[url]http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1663[\url]
The rate of extinction of species is a problem right now as it is happening at unprecedented rates.
This following explains more.

[url]http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1585594.htm[\url]

What makes this so frightening,is theres no legitimate consenus on it among the experts in the field
Other then the thing is particularly virulant
It only showed up about a year ago.I know most of the experts in the field,and their basic response right now could be summed up with "I dont know".There hasnt even been a consensus on wether the fungus is the symptom or the disease itself
But it is decimating bat colonies,one colony in NY went from 14,000 bats to 1500 this winter
Most people dont appreciate them,but bats are really vital in the Northeast area of North America.That part of the country has lots of lakes and rivers that could easily produce TONS of mosquito's without a healthy bat population to keep it down.
If I was going to make an educated guess,basing it on where its happening right now.Bats will intermingle group to group.Either(this is just a guess,a pretty heavily educated one but still,so take it with a grain of salt)
Either
One of the commercial caves in the region had a tourist carrying a foriegn spore
Or a caver didnt wash his gear and carried one in to a wild cave
Problem is,once something like this gets loose,well its obviously off to the races.MAKC have closed thier caves as well until we figure out what in the hell is happening here