Bats with pressure variations finished

2008/08/28 Lakar Iraizoz, Oihane - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Zoologia
• Energia berriztagarriak

Wind turbines cause in bats the same problem as when divers leave too fast: pulmonary barotraumatism. The pressure drops too quickly, causing the air in the lungs to expand and the pulmonary alveoli to explode. The alveoli kill the bleeding that occurs in the explosion, both divers and bats.

To this conclusion a researcher from the Canadian University of Calgaru has arrived, with the dissection of 75 bats killed in wind farms. It seems that the blades of the wind turbines cause a strong drop in pressure in the movement, and if some bat is close to the blades, the pressure change causes the aforementioned lung explosion.

Scientists have long been working to find out how bats die in wind farms. In fact, bats perceive the slopes in motion more easily than those at rest thanks to their sound. Therefore, they hardly die against the wings (most dead bats have no external wounds).