The easy way out leads back in

New research in Canada discovers why wind turbines are especially deadly to bats.

We have known that wind turbines kill winged animals in profusion. But studies have shown that bats get killed a lot more than birds. So these researchers in Calgary did some work to found out why. It turns out it's not because the wind turbine's blades hit the bats, or vice versa, which is the mechanism by which wind turbines kill birds. Bats' echo location mechanisms keep them from hitting the blades. In fact, when the researchers did autopsies on 188 dead bats found on the ground near wind turbines, they found that very few of them had suffered any external trauma. Instead, they found that ninety percent of them had suffered hemorrhaging of their delicate little lungs, caused by the low pressure field created by the passage of the blades. The low pressure causes the bats' lung tissues to expand and burst, like when a deep-sea diver comes to the surface too fast.

That is not a good way to die. Poor bats. We need bats. Damned wind turbines, destroying the environment.

Posted: Mon - August 25, 2008 at 11:37 AM

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The easy way out leads back in

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