To save Yosemite’s bats, scientists need help finding them
A deadly fungus has killed millions of bats across North America over the past decade. To protect the bats in the park, biologists first need to document the many places they roost.
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CALIFORNIAShannon Joslin adjusts the beam of her headlamp and looks deep into one of the countless finger-size cracks that make Yosemite National Park a rock-climbing mecca. The granite seems to pour out of Yosemite Valley to the west on this crisp October morning, and beneath us is nothing but air and the gleaming ribbon of the Merced River a thousand feet below. As we descend the north face of a pillar known as the Rostrum, the wall is so overhanging that we periodically need to affix our ropes to the rock lest we end up dangling in space.
In addition to the standard climbing gear of ropes, rock protection, and belay devices, Joslin and field technician Sean
