North America’s most common bat, the little brown myotis, may be all but extinct in the northeastern United States in 16 years, due to a rapidly-spreading fungal infection,  according to a story in Live Science.

The fungus, called the white-nosed syndrome grows on the exposed skin of bats as they hibernate.

If infection continues at current rates, the researchers reported in the journal Science, there is a 99-percent chance the little brown myotis population will drop below 0.01 percent of its current numbers by 2026.

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