mystery disease

tags: bats, little brown bats, Indiana bats, white nose syndrome, cavers, Alan Hicks Hibernating bats suffering from the mysterious "White Nose Syndrome" (arrows). Image: Alan Hicks, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation [larger view] If you live in New York or Vermont, then you might have heard about the mystery disease that is killing tens of thousands of bats hibernating in caves and mines throughout these two states. The disease has been given the descriptive appellation, "white nose syndrome" because its most obvious symptom (besides death), is the peculiar ring of white fungus…