INCREASE IN OLDER POPULATION

INCREASE IN OLDER POPULATION IN U.S.


The number of older seniors is skyrocketing. In 1950, 589,612 people in the United States were 85 or older, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2010, the number had grown to 5.5 million. Officials added a 90-and-over category in 2000, when 1.4 million Americans were in that age bracket. Ten years later, there were 1.8 million.

BATS IN DANGER OF EXTINCTION

White-nose syndrome

Bats have been nearly wiped out in states including Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont by white-nose syndrome. 
A survey of six species at 42 sites in those states found that their numbers have declined by almost 90 percent. 


The survey conducted last year of the 42 sites focused on caves where bats have been dying for at least two years. It found that the little brown bat population fell from nearly 385,000 before white-nose syndrome to 30,000, a 91 percent decline. The northern bat’s numbers fell from about 1,700 to 31, a 98 percent drop.