Hantavirus has been all over the news lately due to a shocking outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean. The virus is typically transmitted to humans when they breathe airborne particles from the dried droppings, urine or saliva of infected rodents. That’s how Oscar winner Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy, died last … Read more
The Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) confirmed the presence of a fungus linked to white-nose syndrome in bats. The fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), was discovered by officials during routine monitoring of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, according to an NDOW press release. Pd was confirmed in the sample by officials. But they stated that no bats … Read more
In the early 2000s, a coronavirus infecting bats jumped into raccoon dogs and other wild mammals in southwestern China. Some of those animals were sold in markets, where the coronavirus jumped again, into humans. The result was the SARS pandemic, which spread to 33 countries and claimed 774 lives. A few months into it, scientists … Read more
Just in time for Halloween — the Bat Beauty Contest celebrates the oft-feared flying mammals. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has pitted several of the small flying creatures against each other for the competition. Entrants come with names including Hoary Potter and Honey Bunches of Myotis, while others vying for victory are Robert … Read more
Talk about a software bug. A tech expert discovered “an unusually ‘scary’ vulnerability” in the Apple Vision Pro headset which lets hackers flood your virtual reality with spiders, bats and other spooky terrors. In other words, while sitting calmly in your living room with the headgear on, an army of arachnids may pop out of … Read more
They went batty for this beauty. A bat from Oregon named William ShakespEAR won a nationwide beauty contest for the winged mammels. The female Townsend’s big-eared bat won the annual contest organized by the federal Bureau of Land Management, part of the Interior Department, which oversees one in every 10 acres of land in the … Read more
An Australian woman fears she has a fatal virus after getting bitten on the head by a bat while on vacation. “I didn’t want to believe a bat had bitten me,” Sandi Galloway, told the Cairns Post of the attack, which occurred while she and her husband Gordon were sightseeing in Cairns, Queensland. The couple … Read more
Social media is going batty for a “human-sized” bat! Twitter user @AlexJoestar622 posted a photo that seemingly showed a very large, man-sized black winged-mammal hanging upside down. The snap was taken in the Philippines and the bat was swinging down from a roof. “Remember when I told y’all about the Philippines having human-sized bats? Yeah, … Read more
This is totally batty. A TikToker has gone viral for sharing the conditions at his so-called “luxury” apartment building in upstate New York, claiming it’s gotten him evicted in the process. The 33-year-old man, who goes by “Donny Skipper” online, found himself in hot water for a series of videos that show broken elevators and … Read more
They can sure Carey a tune. A new study suggests that bats are the “death metal singers” of the animal kingdom and have a better vocal range than pop singer Mariah Carey. According to the research, published in PLOS Biology journal, bats can reach a vocal range of 7 octaves — nearly double the range … Read more
Story at a glance Researchers are studying the coronavirus in animals to get an understanding of what is circulating in animal populations. One study finds a bat coronavirus can enter human cells. In laboratory tests, it was also able to resist antibodies from SARS-CoV-2. The World Health Organization’s Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in May that … Read more
Local Orange County health officials are alerting the public after a bat tested positive for rabies in Fountain Valley on Wednesday. The infected bat was discovered in the parking lot of a pickleball court located near 16400 Brookhurst Street, according to the OC Health Care Agency. Visitors are being asked to stay alert and avoid … Read more