In the dead of winter, bats should be in a deep sleep. But at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, they are out and about, flying erratically in many cases, acting crazy. Out of nowhere, they have launched their mouse-size bodies at unsuspecting visitors, forcing people to shoo them off with fishing poles, walking sticks and their bare hands.
Officials say they probably haven't gone mad from rabies, something humans should fear. More than likely, it is another troubling sign: Large groups of bats in America's most popular national park appear to be stricken with white-nose syndrome, a deadly fungus that is wiping out various bat species up and down the East Coast, a possible extinction event, some biologists say.
"We can't say 100 percent that it's white-nose, but it most likely is," said Bill Stiver, the supervisor of wildlife biologists at the park, which straddles the Tennessee-North Carolina line. "Our gut feeling is the disease is starting to manifest itself in the caves."