Yukon biologist watching for signs of disease deadly to bats

A Yukon biologistwill be keeping a close eye on bat populations this summer, after researchers saya devastating fungal disease has moved west and has been found in Seattle.

White-nose syndrome is alreadywiping out bat colonies in eastern Canada and the U.S.

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"[Bats]tend to move north-southin North America, between their hibernating sites and their summer range," saidBrian Slough, a biologist who has been monitoring Yukon's bat population for 20 years.

"So, it is possible that our bats might mix with bats from that area [Seattle]."

White-nose syndrome gets its name from the white fungus that grows on bats' noses.The infection wakes bats during hibernation, causing them toburn energy and starvewhen they should be sleeping.

Slough says he'll be looking to see if the local bat population declines, which could be a sign of the disease.

"I'm not sure if you could actually detect it during the summer.But we will keep an eye out for the symptoms, which are generally white fungus on the nose which is why it's called white-nose syndrome or any other odd behaviour."

Bats typically arrive inYukon around this time of year, have babies throughout the summer, thenleave in the fall.

Scientists are now trying to isolate the strain of white-nose fungus found on the west coast, to see if it's the same as in eastern North America, or possibly from bats in Asia.