Cosmic Justice? - Climate Change May Eventually Bring Vampire Bats North to Texas

[kristopher]

Climate Change May Bring Vampire Bats Northward Toward Texas
By Stephen Lacey on Mar 26, 2012 at 8:08 am

Climate change brings bats to Austin

With the emergence of warm spring weather comes the return of the Mexican Freetail bats under Congress Bridge and the remote possibility that a feared and foreign species of bat could make its way into Texas.

The increase in global climate temperatures has raised concerns about the vampire bat species traveling from Mexico and South and Central America into the southern and central regions of Texas. Carin Peterson, training and outreach coordinator of the Office of Environmental Health and Safety, said even if vampire bats are not making their appearance, Austin’s surrounding caves and popular bat attraction, Congress Avenue Bridge, already have their annual bat species.

“Biologists are paying attention to the warming climate and what potential impacts that could bring, including non-native wildlife, but this is not something that will likely happen within the next few years,” Peterson said.

http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/26/451448/climate-change-vampire-bats-texas/

[zbdent]

1. they started the "killer bees" talk again ...

I was a kid, early 70s, when the "killer bees" were supposed to come up and kill us all (in southwestern Pennsylvania).

Well, maybe if the climate changes enough, they'll breed to the point where they do get up here in NE Ohio. The victim they interviewed on the Animal Planet was from Las Vegas NV ... not exactly snow belt country.

I guess with the rate that the "killer bees" are moving, we MIGHT expect them to hit Cleveland in, oh, say 2250?

[Viking12]

2. like this

[saras]

3. No idea who said they'd get that far north, but they're merrily killing in the South

Wikipedia has a pretty good article on Africanized bees

The thing with vampire bats is disease, not blood-drinking as such. Another disease spreader in a cattle area is not a good thing.

[alc]

4. and it MAY create a species of Texas Vampire Armadillo

Maybe I made that up. The vampire bat issue is probably real but not the armadillos. But, this is one of the reasons that popular support for AGW has decreased. I think the economy, jobs, housing, etc is the biggest reason that AGW is no longer a top priority, but credibility of supporters is being stretched. When you stick with thing you have numbers for (polar bears, temperatures), you have credibility.

When you warn about a few things, you can wait for them to happen and show how your predictions were right. When ANY & EVERYTHING _may_ be caused by climate change it sounds like chicken little. And when one of them happens, opponents can point out 10 predictions that didn't - regardless of the science, it's a hard PR battle if you "lose" 10-1.