Tiniest Handshake

February 17, 2026

A biologist wearing a face mask and gloves is stretching out and inspecting the right wing of a little brown bat.

The light of a headlamp reveals the hand-like nature of a bat’s wing, hinting at our shared evolutionary history. MSc student Lilee Donahue is examining this wing for signs of damage from white-nose disease, which has endangered several bat species in North America.