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In part 1 Ms. Tieche shared with us that her purpose in making “The Invisible Mammal” was to increase awareness of the threats we are facing and to show how important bats are to humans and ecosystems. In today’s program, we’ll uncover more of the devastating diseases that bats have been suffering from and what humans can do to help save us. "When they get white-nose syndrome, this is a fungus that attacks bats during hibernation, when they're in the state of torpor. And then the bats will wake up more often during hibernation and burn up all of their energy reserves. Then they lose their fat reserves before the end of hibernation, so they end up perishing." Kristin tells us where most scientists believe this fatal disease affecting us came from. “It most likely was tracked to North America by humans. They believe that a tourist must have tracked in the fungus and introduced this new fungus to North American bats.”What can humans do to help prevent bats from contracting this awful disease? Kristin suggests a few solutions. "The solutions are basically decontamination and then finding a non-invasive way to help bats survive the hibernation period. People who want to enter these habitats will have to decontaminate their shoes and any surfaces that might touch the walls of the cave or the hibernacula." By deepening your understanding of the relationship between bats and the ecosystem, Kristin hopes that you will be able to see the positive impact we have on human lives and the planet altogether. "There are some studies that show that we've lost 70% of our biodiversity. And we definitely depend on all of the species to make our entire ecosystem work. So, when we lose one species, there's a whole chain effect, a domino effect, that happens, because there's all these species that depend on that one species. We have to protect all of them. This is a really important piece to understand that the biodiversity of our world, and climate change, it's all connected. And there are so many ways that we can have a lighter footprint on our planet and being a vegetarian is one of them."
