Among those who have joined Ms. Solis is Suzanne Martin, 33, of Coopersburg, Pa., who came to New York last month to trek down an abandoned 19th-century water tunnel in the Bronx populated by hibernating bats.
Available from March to May, the slopes can be reached only by Mi8 helicopters, but offer runs of up to 11,000ft where skiers are outnumbered by hibernating grizzly bears.
Scientists are working against the clock to determine whether some bat populations stand a better chance of avoiding the fungus by hibernating in parts of caves where spore concentrations are lower.
The protein is one of several that are naturally produced by hibernating animals, such as bears and hedgehogs, to protect the brain during long periods of torpor, when no brain activity occurs.
Colonies perish in the autumn and only newly mated queens survive the winter by hibernating.
In contrast to our expectations, wound healing by hibernating bats did not result in faster depletion of fat reserves because there was no difference in BCI between bats in the winter biopsy and winter control groups.
