What got you into bats or brought you to WEST? White-nose syndrome first struck North American bats in 2006 in upstate New York near where I was completing undergraduate research, so I was inspired to apply for National Science Foundation funding to study survey techniques for these aerial acrobats and the rest was history. Also, what’s more fascinating than a mammal that evolved the power of flight, complex social behavior, and advanced communication?
What do you love most about your job? Getting to support conservation efforts for these incredible, important, intelligent mammals.
What is your favorite bat fact? True altruism is incredibly rare; altruism usually being driven by kinship selection, reciprocity, and other factors. However true altruism has been demonstrated in multiple bat species.