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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?s=&#038;type=post&#038;topic=bats" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/bats/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sat, 10 Oct 2026 07:49:21 +0000</lastBuildDate>
		<language>en-US</language>
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<image>
	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Bats</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/bats/</link>
	<width>32</width>
	<height>32</height>
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				<item>
					<title>Tapirs, bats and nests: How plastic infiltrates Amazonian wildlife</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/tapirs-bats-and-nests-how-plastic-infiltrates-amazonian-wildlife/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/tapirs-bats-and-nests-how-plastic-infiltrates-amazonian-wildlife/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2026 21:12:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tiago da Mota e Silva]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/18210249/tapir-in-suriname-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326600</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Microplastics in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Fish, Freshwater Fish, Health, Mammals, Microplastics, Plastic, Pollution, Protected Areas, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At the mouth of the Amazon River, birds are already building blue nests out of discarded plastic.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the third and final article in a special series on microplastics in the Amazon. Read the first story here and the second story here. MANAUS, Brazil — Traveling by boat up the Negro River from Amazonas state capital Manaus, it takes eight to nine hours to cover the 100 kilometers (62 miles) to Anavilhanas National Park. This protected area preserves one of the world’s largest freshwater archipelagos, comprising more than 400 islands and 60 lakes. They include Prato Lake, which is about 3.5 kilometers (about 2 miles) long and 1.5 kilometers (nearly 1 mile) wide. Yet, even here, in a protected area far from urban pressures, microplastics were found in the digestive tracts of fish. A recent study found an average concentration of 0.25 particles per liter of microplastics in the waters of Prato Lake. The particles were also present in the fish analyzed, regardless of their feeding habits, averaging 3.3 particles per individual. In total, about eight out of every 10 fish contained microplastics, despite living in a preserved area far from urban centers. “As a result of the entire connectivity dynamic that exists between aquatic environments in the Amazon, plastic is found even in the most remote places,” said co-author of the study Adalberto Val, a biologist from the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA). Plastic’s likely journey begins long before it reaches the lake. Most of the particles found in the fish consisted of filaments of polyamide, also known as nylon, alongside fragments of materials&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/tapirs-bats-and-nests-how-plastic-infiltrates-amazonian-wildlife/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/tapirs-bats-and-nests-how-plastic-infiltrates-amazonian-wildlife/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326600</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study investigates how to prevent viral spread from bat guano in Southeast Asia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/study-investigates-how-to-prevent-viral-spread-from-bat-guano-in-southeast-asia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/study-investigates-how-to-prevent-viral-spread-from-bat-guano-in-southeast-asia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jul 2026 13:55:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/25102859/Banner_Rhinolophus_coelophyllus_Croslet-horseshoe-bat-e1784975703551-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324526</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Business, Caves, Coronavirus, Diseases, Environment, Fertilizers, Health, Mammals, One Health, Public Health, Research, Science, Supply Chain, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As humans encroach further into ecosystems, people and wildlife are brought into closer proximity. One potential consequence is an increased risk of pathogens jumping from animals to humans, prompting researchers to explore the dynamics of how viruses circulate in nature and how best to prevent the risk of this transmission. New research from Thailand identified [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As humans encroach further into ecosystems, people and wildlife are brought into closer proximity. One potential consequence is an increased risk of pathogens jumping from animals to humans, prompting researchers to explore the dynamics of how viruses circulate in nature and how best to prevent the risk of this transmission. New research from Thailand identified genetic material belonging to Betacoronaviruses, a genus of viruses that includes the strains responsible for Covid-19, SARS and MERS, within commercially available agricultural products, raising concerns over a general lack of safety protocols to protect harvesters and handlers from exposure. In the study, published in PLOS One, researchers screened 41 samples of bat guano fertilizers commonly sold in Thai markets for the presence of coronaviruses. While all the samples were from products bought in Thailand, the researchers couldn’t determine the exact origins of the guano contained in each product, which may have been from outside the country. Two of the samples tested positive for Alphacoronaviruses, another genus of coronaviruses, and one tested positive for Betacoronaviruses. Genetic analysis showed the Betacoronavirus sample was closely genetically related to the sarbecovirus subgenus, the group that includes the Covid-causing pathogen, SARS-CoV-2. Importantly, the researchers note the viral strains detected are not known to infect humans. Moreover, they only detected a fragment of viral RNA, the genetic blueprint of viruses, and did not fully isolate a live virus in the samples. As a result, they couldn’t definitively confirm the genetic material detected is capable of posing risks to human health.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/study-investigates-how-to-prevent-viral-spread-from-bat-guano-in-southeast-asia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/study-investigates-how-to-prevent-viral-spread-from-bat-guano-in-southeast-asia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324526</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Evidence linking bats to Ebola inconclusive, scientist says. &#8216;Solution is not fear&#8217;</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/evidence-linking-bats-to-ebola-inconclusive-scientist-says-solution-is-not-fear/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/evidence-linking-bats-to-ebola-inconclusive-scientist-says-solution-is-not-fear/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jun 2026 11:43:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/10113226/image1_Rousettus-aegyptiacus-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320904</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Conservation, Diseases, Ebola, Governance, Health, Pandemics, Planetary Health, Public Health, Rainforests, Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the Democratic Republic of Congo grapples with another Ebola outbreak, bats have once again come under scrutiny as a possible reservoir for the virus. But according to bat ecologist Paul Webala, there is no conclusive scientific evidence linking bats to Ebola and the natural reservoir remains unknown. The current Ebola outbreak is caused by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the Democratic Republic of Congo grapples with another Ebola outbreak, bats have once again come under scrutiny as a possible reservoir for the virus. But according to bat ecologist Paul Webala, there is no conclusive scientific evidence linking bats to Ebola and the natural reservoir remains unknown. The current Ebola outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, a variant for which there are currently no approved vaccines or treatments, according to the World Health Organization. In this interview with Mongabay, Webala discusses why bats are often misunderstood, details the important ecological services they provide, and explains why habitat destruction may pose a greater risk for zoonotic diseases that spill over between animals and humans than bats themselves. Webala is a wildlife biologist at Maasai Mara University in Kenya who has studied bats for more than two decades. Rousettus aegyptiacus, commonly known as the Egyptian fruit bat, a widespread species found across much of Africa. Photo courtesy of Paul Webala. Mongabay: Many people immediately think of bats whenever there is an Ebola outbreak. Are bats unfairly stigmatized? Paul Webala: Bats are the second-largest group of mammals after rodents. Roughly 25% of all mammal species are bats. They play extremely important roles in ecosystems and are an integral part of biodiversity. Remove them, and entire ecological systems could begin to collapse. Unfortunately, bats are associated with many myths and misconceptions. Some communities associate them with death, evil spirits or bad omens. Because of these long-standing beliefs, bats have often been persecuted.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/evidence-linking-bats-to-ebola-inconclusive-scientist-says-solution-is-not-fear/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/evidence-linking-bats-to-ebola-inconclusive-scientist-says-solution-is-not-fear/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320904</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ebola outbreak draws attention to longstanding virus spillover risks in western Uganda</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/ebola-outbreak-draws-attention-to-longstanding-virus-spillover-risks-in-western-uganda/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/ebola-outbreak-draws-attention-to-longstanding-virus-spillover-risks-in-western-uganda/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 May 2026 06:37:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika VyawahareSharon Muzaki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/26225057/IMG_9541-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320158</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Diseases, Ebola, Environment, Governance, Health, Planetary Health, Public Health, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KAMPALA — In the hills and trading centers of western Uganda, bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities are racing to limit the spread of Bundibugyo ebolavirus, a rare species of Ebola for which there is currently no vaccine or cure. The number of suspected cases in the DRC is fast approaching 1,000, with Uganda [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KAMPALA — In the hills and trading centers of western Uganda, bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities are racing to limit the spread of Bundibugyo ebolavirus, a rare species of Ebola for which there is currently no vaccine or cure. The number of suspected cases in the DRC is fast approaching 1,000, with Uganda reporting seven cases, as of May 25. The first cluster of cases of the ongoing outbreak was detected in early May in Ituri province in the DRC, which shares a border with Uganda. The close community and economic ties between people residing on both sides of the border has complicated efforts to contain the outbreak, with Uganda taking measures to stem the flow of people. The Ebola virus driving the current outbreak is named for Uganda’s Bundibugyo district, where it was first detected almost two decades ago. (International health bodies including the World Health Organization have since moved away from naming disease-causing pathogens after places, citing stigmatization.) Most Ebola outbreaks to date have been caused by the Zaire ebolavirus, which also drove the 2014-2016 epidemic centered on West Africa. The Bundibugyo ebolavirus has been linked to two outbreaks in the past. The second outbreak emerged in the DRC in 2012 remained limited to the country, before subsiding later that year. This time may be different, since cases have emerged in Uganda, and the risk of regional spread is high. On May 23, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) identified 10 other&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/ebola-outbreak-draws-attention-to-longstanding-virus-spillover-risks-in-western-uganda/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/ebola-outbreak-draws-attention-to-longstanding-virus-spillover-risks-in-western-uganda/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320158</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘We’ve got bats’: The community bringing New Zealand’s pekapeka into the spotlight</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/weve-got-bats-the-community-bringing-new-zealands-pekapeka-into-the-spotlight/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/weve-got-bats-the-community-bringing-new-zealands-pekapeka-into-the-spotlight/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 May 2026 18:50:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Isabel Gil]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/19162609/new-zealand-bat-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319727</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Zealand and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Research, Surveying, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Billy Mclean knew nothing about bats. As a lifelong Kiwi, there was no reason for him to. Unlike in neighboring Australia and other parts of Oceania whose renowned flying foxes grow meter-long wingspans, Aotearoa New Zealand is famous for its birds, not bats. Mclean worked as an arborist in the Franklin area, an agricultural county [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Billy Mclean knew nothing about bats. As a lifelong Kiwi, there was no reason for him to. Unlike in neighboring Australia and other parts of Oceania whose renowned flying foxes grow meter-long wingspans, Aotearoa New Zealand is famous for its birds, not bats. Mclean worked as an arborist in the Franklin area, an agricultural county south of Auckland on the North Island. He said he felt he knew everything about the local forest, until one night 23 years ago. As he headed home from a nighttime walk on his property, a shadow swooped from the arched tree canopy. He ducked — all his years spent in the trees, and he had never seen anything move like it. Mclean said it took a minute to register what he had seen. “As the picture develops, you get that classic crescent-shaped wing,” he told Mongabay by phone. “That’s when I knew. We’ve got bats.” That night sparked a passion for bats that Mclean has been pursuing ever since. After years of being “straight-up ridiculed” for trying to convince his community that these creatures lived in their backyards, many are starting to believe him. Today, he’s an active member with Finding Franklin Bats (FFB), a locally run research project teaching community members how to find, monitor and protect the overlooked bats that live in their backyards. (Left) Billy Mclean assists in weighing a long-tailed bat. (Right) Billy Mclean&#8217;s daughter practices using a radio telemetry set to detect bat calls. Image courtesy of Finding Franklin&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/weve-got-bats-the-community-bringing-new-zealands-pekapeka-into-the-spotlight/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319727</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>At dusk in Kenya’s caves, scientists study the hidden lives of bats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/at-dusk-in-kenyas-caves-scientists-race-to-understand-the-hidden-lives-of-bats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/at-dusk-in-kenyas-caves-scientists-race-to-understand-the-hidden-lives-of-bats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Mar 2026 14:44:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sharon Muzaki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/17142523/Hildegardes-Tomb-Bat-2-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315843</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Caves, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Infrastructure, Mammals, Protected Areas, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the afternoon fades at the Three Sisters Caves in Kenya’s Kwale county, David Wechuli’s team begins setting up nearly invisible nets along the hillsides in the coastal forest. “When dusk arrives, bats begin pouring out of the caves,” Wechuli says. “Some fly straight into the nets. We quickly remove them, carefully untangling each bat [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the afternoon fades at the Three Sisters Caves in Kenya’s Kwale county, David Wechuli’s team begins setting up nearly invisible nets along the hillsides in the coastal forest. “When dusk arrives, bats begin pouring out of the caves,” Wechuli says. “Some fly straight into the nets. We quickly remove them, carefully untangling each bat before taking morphometric measurements such as body size, weight and wing length.” The captured bats are carefully placed in small cotton bags, allowing them to breathe while preventing escape over the next two or three hours. The research team from Bat Conservation International (BCI) will work into the night, measuring each animal, determining their sex, and taking tissue samples to check for the presence of disease, before photographing each one and releasing it back into the night. Earlier in the afternoon, the team will have inspected the site, moving carefully through the dark cave filled with thousands of bats clinging to the cave’s roof and rock walls. “Some caves are deep tunnels, more than 100 meters [330 feet] long,” Wechuli tells Mongabay in a phone interview. “Others have bats roosting very high. You have to know the cave before you even start capturing anything.” Wechuli and other researchers are working to better understand how bats live, the role these flying mammals play in ecosystems, and how human activities are reshaping their habitats. His research and conservation work is focused on the coastal caves in the Shimoni region of Kwale county, as well as in volcanic&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/at-dusk-in-kenyas-caves-scientists-race-to-understand-the-hidden-lives-of-bats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315843</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>U.S.&#8217; hunger for Halloween trinkets is killing Vietnam&#8217;s painted woolly bats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/u-s-hunger-for-halloween-trinkets-is-killing-vietnams-painted-woolly-bats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/u-s-hunger-for-halloween-trinkets-is-killing-vietnams-painted-woolly-bats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Mar 2026 13:31:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/06154617/original-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315361</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, North America, Southeast Asia, United States, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystem Services, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Hunting, Illegal Trade, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Poaching, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With hues of orange and black on its wings and a furry, fluffy face, the painted woolly bat is a stunner. But its beauty has become a deadly liability. People want to hang the bats — dead and stuffed — on their walls, display them as collectibles and even set them in jewelry. In recent [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With hues of orange and black on its wings and a furry, fluffy face, the painted woolly bat is a stunner. But its beauty has become a deadly liability. People want to hang the bats — dead and stuffed — on their walls, display them as collectibles and even set them in jewelry. In recent years, taxidermied and framed bats have become popular as Halloween décor and, oddly, as Christmas tree decorations, sold to customers in the U.S., as well as Europe and Canada. This macabre trade first came to light in 2015 when scientists found dead bats, including painted woolly bats, for sale in Vietnam’s largest metropolis, Ho Chi Minh City. Then, nearly a decade later, scientists realized that it wasn’t just a few stores selling bats: There’s also a huge online market. In 2024, researchers from the Bat Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, documented nearly 800 bats for sale on Amazon.com, eBay and Etsy over a three-month period. Their “Dying for décor” study, published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research, suggests that the trade is global. A quarter of the bats sold online were from a single species: painted woolly bats (Kerivoula picta). After a successful awareness campaign by conservation organizations, eBay and Etsy banned the sale of bat products on their sites in 2025. Painted woolly bats are nocturnal and sparsely distributed in the landscape, roosting in small groups. Image by faridmuzaki via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0). Now, a new study&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/u-s-hunger-for-halloween-trinkets-is-killing-vietnams-painted-woolly-bats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/u-s-hunger-for-halloween-trinkets-is-killing-vietnams-painted-woolly-bats/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315361</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Myanmar’s limestone hills, people and bats are often too close for comfort</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-myanmars-limestone-hills-people-and-bats-are-often-too-close-for-comfort/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-myanmars-limestone-hills-people-and-bats-are-often-too-close-for-comfort/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2026 07:28:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/25070646/Bat01_SaMyoZaw-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314743</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Caves, Conservation, Diseases, Environment, Habitat Degradation, Karst, Mammals, Research, Tourism, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Limestone karst is like an island. Each rocky formation rises distinctly out of the surrounding landscape. Over time, an array of highly specialized species, each adapted to that particular landform’s jagged forests and dark caves, have evolved. As a result, many karst species are endemic and perilously rare. Myanmar is home to Southeast Asia’s second-largest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Limestone karst is like an island. Each rocky formation rises distinctly out of the surrounding landscape. Over time, an array of highly specialized species, each adapted to that particular landform’s jagged forests and dark caves, have evolved. As a result, many karst species are endemic and perilously rare. Myanmar is home to Southeast Asia’s second-largest area of limestone karst, after Indonesia; its rugged peaks cover a total of more than 80,000 square kilometers (31,000 square miles. The area hosts the entire global population of Popa langurs (Trachypithecus popa), one of the world’s most recently described primates, and scores of gecko species described only in the past decade. Scientists say countless others likely remain tucked away in obscurity, waiting to be discovered. Yet despite its biodiversity, less than 1% of Myanmar’s limestone karst is formally protected, prompting concerns from conservationists about fragile wildlife populations that are facing mounting pressure amid a boom in clandestine mining and deforestation across the country to meet rising demand for cement, minerals and timber. Now, a recent census of cave-dwelling bats in northeast Myanmar’s Shan state indicates many karst caverns are becoming increasingly inhospitable for the winged mammals due to human disturbance, posing risks to both bats and people. “Bats are natural reservoirs for many viruses, including coronaviruses,” said Thura Soe Min Htike, conservation officer at the Nature Conservation Society–Myanmar and a co-author of the study. “Understanding how bats interact with their environment, and how humans interact with bats, is an important first step in preventing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-myanmars-limestone-hills-people-and-bats-are-often-too-close-for-comfort/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314743</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Up close with Mexico’s fish-eating bats: Interview with researcher José Juan Flores Martínez</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/up-close-with-mexicos-fish-eating-bats-interview-with-researcher-jose-juan-flores-martinez/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/up-close-with-mexicos-fish-eating-bats-interview-with-researcher-jose-juan-flores-martinez/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Dec 2025 17:54:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Astrid Arellano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/30230254/murcielago-pescador-cover3-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312388</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Coastal Ecosystems, Deserts, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Evolution, Fishing, Green, Interviews, Invasive Species, Islands, Mammals, Marine, Oceans, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the early 2000s, José Juan Flores Martínez was studying for a bachelor’s degree in biology and working as a volunteer in a program designed to control invasive rodents on islands in the Gulf of California in northwestern Mexico, which are home to several seabird colonies. On one of those expeditions, his group traveled to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the early 2000s, José Juan Flores Martínez was studying for a bachelor’s degree in biology and working as a volunteer in a program designed to control invasive rodents on islands in the Gulf of California in northwestern Mexico, which are home to several seabird colonies. On one of those expeditions, his group traveled to Isla Partida Norte near the city of La Paz, where something surprised them: they heard bats. Accustomed to seeing them in caves, Flores Martínez was intrigued when he saw them coming out from between the rocks and making clicking sounds under his feet. “It surprised me to find out that they were on an island, in the middle of the desert, under extreme conditions: They can resist sub[-freezing] temperatures and heat above 50 degrees [Celsius, or about 122° Fahrenheit],” said Flores Martínez, now an academic technician at the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s (UNAM) Institute of Biology. “But it was much more surprising to me that, when I began to ask questions, I was told that they feed on fish.” They were fish-eating bats (Myotis vivesi), and they fascinated Flores Martínez. This fascination led him, along with researcher Gerardo Herrera Montalvo, to embark on a scientific journey that has lasted a quarter of a century and counting. The fish-eating bat is the largest bat in its genus, reaching up to 16 centimeters (about 6 inches) in length. Its long, shiny fur is waterproof, which comes in handy as it maneuvers above the surface of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/up-close-with-mexicos-fish-eating-bats-interview-with-researcher-jose-juan-flores-martinez/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312388</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rare bats at risk as iron ore mine advances in Guinea’s Nimba Mountains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/rare-bats-at-risk-as-iron-ore-mine-advances-in-guineas-nimba-mountains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/rare-bats-at-risk-as-iron-ore-mine-advances-in-guineas-nimba-mountains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2025 14:47:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/01/21181341/Myotis-nimbaensis_2_IMG_3646-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312281</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Guinea’s Iron Frontier]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Guinea, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Bats, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Deforestation, Economics, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Great Apes, Infrastructure, Mammals, Mining, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2018, researchers from Bat Conservation International, Cameroon&#8217;s University of Maroua and the American Museum of Natural History entered abandoned mining tunnels in Guinea’s Nimba Mountains as part of an environmental and social impact assessment for an iron ore project. They wanted to better understand the habitat and behavior of the critically endangered Lamotte’s roundleaf [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2018, researchers from Bat Conservation International, Cameroon&#8217;s University of Maroua and the American Museum of Natural History entered abandoned mining tunnels in Guinea’s Nimba Mountains as part of an environmental and social impact assessment for an iron ore project. They wanted to better understand the habitat and behavior of the critically endangered Lamotte’s roundleaf bat (Hipposideros lamottei) in order to mitigate the negative impacts of a proposed mining project. As they were prowling in the horizontal shafts of mines left behind in the 1970s and ’80s, they encountered a distinctive and distinctly unknown-to-science bat species. It was joy for the scientists, and potential disaster for U.S. miner Ivanhoe Atlantic (formerly HPX), which is seeking to develop an open-pit iron ore mine amid the rich biodiversity of the Nimba Mountains, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Residents of the villages around Nimba had previously reported sightings of a bat with bright orange fur here in the mountains, around 1,400 meters (4,600 feet) above sea level, but the 2018 survey was the first formal record of the bat. The scientists searching the abandoned mine shafts were able to trap, examine and release just two individuals on two occasions, one male and one female. They also recorded echolocation at a total of five adits, the access tunnels to the old mines, that matched the vocalizations of the bat they’ve formally named Myotis nimbaensis. In the 2021 paper announcing the bat’s identification, the researchers explained its relationship to other members of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/rare-bats-at-risk-as-iron-ore-mine-advances-in-guineas-nimba-mountains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312281</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Vietnam’s protected areas fall short of safeguarding most bats, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/vietnams-protected-areas-fall-short-of-safeguarding-most-bats-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/vietnams-protected-areas-fall-short-of-safeguarding-most-bats-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Nov 2025 14:51:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/06143852/A-Lyles-flying-fox.-Image-by-lonelyshrimp-via-Creative-Commons-CCO-1.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308991</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Governance, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Protected Areas, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Furry, feisty, and often on the wing, bats are tricky to observe, let alone to protect. Some species hibernate deep in caves or tree cavities for months at a time; many migrate long distances in search of food, shelter and potential mates. Their diversity of lifestyles often makes it difficult to include all bats within [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Furry, feisty, and often on the wing, bats are tricky to observe, let alone to protect. Some species hibernate deep in caves or tree cavities for months at a time; many migrate long distances in search of food, shelter and potential mates. Their diversity of lifestyles often makes it difficult to include all bats within conservation plans. Designing and locating protected areas with bats in mind is a particular challenge. Numerous studies have found the small winged mammals are frequently overlooked in conservation areas across many biodiverse parts of the world, such as Africa, Brazil, and now, Vietnam. Only about 6% of the land where bats are found in Vietnam is included within its existing protected area network, according to a new study published in PLOS ONE. Nearly one-third of all bat species known from Asia are found across Vietnam’s remaining tropical forests, mountain valleys and cavernous limestone karst formations, where they face a slew of threats, with many species in decline. The study, by a team of biologists from Vietnam, Hungary and Taiwan, used spatial distribution models to analyze to what extent Vietnam’s protected areas encompass the range of 81 species of bats, including insect eaters, fruit eaters, and eight globally threatened species. They found the range of 78 species falls largely outside of the country’s protected areas, with threatened species particularly poorly represented. Le Quang Tuan, a biologist at National Taiwan Normal University and lead author of the study, told Mongabay that overlooking bats in conservation planning in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/vietnams-protected-areas-fall-short-of-safeguarding-most-bats-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308991</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rainwater reveals the hidden life of rainforest canopies, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/rainwater-reveals-the-hidden-life-of-rainforest-canopies-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/rainwater-reveals-the-hidden-life-of-rainforest-canopies-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2025 17:45:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/09172519/fouquet_IMG_3248_Trachycephalus_hadroceps-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305681</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, French Guiana, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Climate Change, Community Development, Conservation, Deforestation, DNA, Ecology, Forests, Insects, Monitoring, Planetary Boundaries, Plantations, Rainforests, Sloths, Species, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the rainforest, much of life dwells in the tree canopy. But getting up there to study it isn&#8217;t easy. By the time a human has clumsily lumbered up from the ground, most of the critters have scattered. So a team of researchers had an idea: Why not collect the rainwater that trickles down through [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the rainforest, much of life dwells in the tree canopy. But getting up there to study it isn&#8217;t easy. By the time a human has clumsily lumbered up from the ground, most of the critters have scattered. So a team of researchers had an idea: Why not collect the rainwater that trickles down through the trees and analyze the water for traces of DNA? Every living thing, from the tiniest moss to the largest monkey, sheds microscopic pieces of itself. Cells slough off. Saliva droplets land on leaves. Waste products get deposited on branches. When rain falls through the forest canopy, it washes all this biological debris downward, creating what scientists call rainwash, a carrier of environmental DNA, or eDNA. To gather the rainwash, researchers repurposed ordinary umbrellas, drilling holes and attaching tubes to funnel water into collection devices, and hung them under trees in the Amazonian forests of French Guiana. Researchers repurposed umbrellas into low-cost rainwash collectors to study life in the canopy of French Guiana. Image courtesy of Amaia Iribar, CRBE, CNRS. &#8220;We wanted to develop something low cost and easily usable for all the local actors for conservation,&#8221; Lucie Zinger, a researcher at the France-based Center for Biodiversity and Environmental Research (CBRE), told Mongabay. &#8220;So, the idea of the umbrella comes from something cheap and easy to use.&#8221; The resulting study, published in Science Advances, found that the rainwater eDNA method detected a remarkable diversity of life in the canopy: 562 different taxa across plants, vertebrates&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/rainwater-reveals-the-hidden-life-of-rainforest-canopies-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305681</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Discovery of critically endangered bat in Rwanda leads to conservation talks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/discovery-of-critically-endangered-bat-in-rwanda-leads-to-conservation-talks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/discovery-of-critically-endangered-bat-in-rwanda-leads-to-conservation-talks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Apr 2025 16:17:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimable Twahirwa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/25144732/image1_Bats_roost_Rwanda-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298201</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Rediscovered Species, Research, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KIGALI, Rwanda ― Following the recent rediscovery of the critically endangered Hill’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hilli) at Nyungwe National Park in southwestern Rwanda, researchers are calling for actions and policies aimed at their conservation. Scientists say that this is the first sighting and documentation of the horseshoe bat Rhinolophus webalaiin the park and Rwanda’s first [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KIGALI, Rwanda ― Following the recent rediscovery of the critically endangered Hill’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hilli) at Nyungwe National Park in southwestern Rwanda, researchers are calling for actions and policies aimed at their conservation. Scientists say that this is the first sighting and documentation of the horseshoe bat Rhinolophus webalaiin the park and Rwanda’s first observation of the Damara woolly bat (Kerivoula argentata) since it was last observed in 1981. According to Paul Webala, a senior lecturer in wildlife biology at the department of forestry and wildlife management at Kenya’s Maasai Mara University, scientists consider bats the second-most diverse group of mammals after rodents. In countries like Rwanda, he says, where most of the natural forests and savannah habitats have been lost, altered or degraded, bats may comprise “at least 40% of the overall mammal diversity.” According to a 2022 study that Webala co-authored, insectivorous bats in Rwanda provide critical ecosystem services and also act as pest controllers in agricultural areas. Health concerns, and habitat loss “In Rwanda, one of the [bat] species of concern, although not threatened according to the IUCN Red List, is the Egyptian fruit bat [Rousettus aegyptiacus] because it has been identified by health officials as a natural reservoir host for the Marburg virus disease,” Webala says. In February this year, Rwandan health officials decided to construct a wall in a mining site located in Nyamirambo a suburb of the capital city Kigali separating a working area from the bats’ habitat. “This barrier is intended to reduce&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/discovery-of-critically-endangered-bat-in-rwanda-leads-to-conservation-talks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298201</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lures that attract seed-dispersing bats could aid tropical reforestation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/lures-that-attract-seed-dispersing-bats-could-aid-tropical-reforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/lures-that-attract-seed-dispersing-bats-could-aid-tropical-reforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jan 2025 19:36:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/30091431/Sebas-short-tailed-bat-Carollia-perspicillata-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293623</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America and Costa Rica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystem Engineers, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Mammals, Reforestation, Research, Restoration, Seed Dispersal, Trees, Tropical Conservation Science, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Attracting seed-dispersing bats to degraded landscapes and aiding in tropical forest restoration efforts has long been an alluring prospect for conservationists: potentially a cheaper, less labor-intensive technique than media-hyped plantings of millions of trees. Researchers have experimented with a variety of seed disperser lures for decades, but a recent project in Costa Rica may show [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Attracting seed-dispersing bats to degraded landscapes and aiding in tropical forest restoration efforts has long been an alluring prospect for conservationists: potentially a cheaper, less labor-intensive technique than media-hyped plantings of millions of trees. Researchers have experimented with a variety of seed disperser lures for decades, but a recent project in Costa Rica may show an efficient, less costly way forward. Researchers successfully utilized synthetic chemical compounds derived from the fruit of Piper plants to attract wild fruit-eating bats. “To locate fruits in the dark, bats rely on their sense of smell. In our study, we used synthetic volatile molecules that mimic the scents of fruits preferred by fruit bats to attract them,” Mariana Gelambi, study lead author and Virginia Tech postdoctoral researcher, writes in an email. The research team placed these synthetic bat lures at sites within the La Selva Biological Research Station. They then observed fruit-eating bats from the genus Carollia drawn to the scent and also noted a slight increase in the quantity of seeds dispersed. This work builds on past research that tested the potential of essential oils collected from tropical fruits to attract seed dispersers. The chemical scents used in the Costa Rica experiment could cut the costs of extracting essential oils from fruit, making this new approach a possible candidate for large-scale future use, Gelambi says. In the past, researchers have explored other ways of attracting seed dispersers to deforested areas, deploying artificial bird nests and roosts and making sounds to attract a variety&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/lures-that-attract-seed-dispersing-bats-could-aid-tropical-reforestation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/lures-that-attract-seed-dispersing-bats-could-aid-tropical-reforestation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293623</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Great Himalayan leaf-nosed bat finally confirmed in Bangladesh</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/great-himalayan-leaf-nosed-bat-finally-confirmed-in-bangladesh/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/great-himalayan-leaf-nosed-bat-finally-confirmed-in-bangladesh/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Dec 2024 11:32:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mohammad Al-Masum Molla]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/26152418/H.-armiger-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292387</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Caves, Conservation, Environment, Mammals, New Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DHAKA — Scientists have published the first record of the great Himalayan leaf-nosed bat in Bangladesh, dropping another pin on this wide-ranging species’ distribution map across Asia and highlighting the importance of continued biodiversity surveys in Bangladesh. The species, Hipposideros armiger, was found in a cave in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in southeastern Bangladesh during [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DHAKA — Scientists have published the first record of the great Himalayan leaf-nosed bat in Bangladesh, dropping another pin on this wide-ranging species’ distribution map across Asia and highlighting the importance of continued biodiversity surveys in Bangladesh. The species, Hipposideros armiger, was found in a cave in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in southeastern Bangladesh during field surveys between July and December 2023, according to a newly published study. “We were thrilled to confirm this species in Bangladesh,” said lead researcher M. Abdul Aziz, a professor in the Department of Zoology at Jahangirnagar University. “It’s an exciting moment for both local and global bat conservation efforts, as this discovery not only adds to the national fauna but also provides a deeper understanding of the species’ distribution across South Asia.” H. armiger, among the larger of the leaf-nosed bats, has a wide distribution stretching from India in the west to China in the east, and as far south as Malaysia. Until last year’s discovery, however, its presence in Bangladesh had never been confirmed by scientists. H. armiger, among the larger of the leaf-nosed bats, has a wide distribution stretching from India in the west to China in the east, and as far south as Malaysia. Image by M. Aziz. How it was identified The species is a high-altitude cave dweller known for its distinctive nose-leaf structure, a crucial part of its echolocation mechanism that helps it navigate in the dark. The cave in which Aziz and his team found it is a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/great-himalayan-leaf-nosed-bat-finally-confirmed-in-bangladesh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292387</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil natural landscape degradation drives toxic metal buildup in bats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/brazil-natural-landscape-degradation-drives-toxic-metal-buildup-in-bats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/brazil-natural-landscape-degradation-drives-toxic-metal-buildup-in-bats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Dec 2024 20:22:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/11103027/4-pale-spear-nosed-bat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291442</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest, Brazil, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Bats, Biodiversity, Chemicals, Conservation, Deforestation, Degraded Lands, Environment, Extinction, forest degradation, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Habitat Degradation, Monocultures, Plantations, Pollinators, Pollution, Rainforests, Research, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bats play a key role in maintaining the health of forest ecosystems as pollinators, seed dispersers and insect pest controllers. But according to new research, bats and the ecosystem services they offer are under threat in Brazil’s heavily fragmented Atlantic Forest biome, where natural lands have been largely converted for agriculture and mining, degradation that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bats play a key role in maintaining the health of forest ecosystems as pollinators, seed dispersers and insect pest controllers. But according to new research, bats and the ecosystem services they offer are under threat in Brazil’s heavily fragmented Atlantic Forest biome, where natural lands have been largely converted for agriculture and mining, degradation that is increasing wildlife exposure to toxic heavy metals. Scientists at Brazil’s Santa Cruz State University plucked hair samples from bats in the state of Bahia across a patchwork of landscapes — including cattle pasture, eucalyptus and coffee monocultures and cacao agroforest — then tested them for three metals: lead, manganese and copper. “We found that bats living in areas where the landscape is dominated by intensive agriculture or grasslands have higher levels of toxic metals, particularly lead and manganese,” says Julián Barillaro, the study leader and a conservation ecology researcher at Santa Cruz State University. This, he says, is likely due to use of agrochemicals and leaded fuel. Reduced natural habitat also likely increased exposure. Other factors, such as bat species and sex, didn’t affect bioaccumulation, leading the authors to believe that the bats came into direct contact with these heavy metals by resting on contaminated leaves or trees and then grooming. The exposure levels within different monocultures requires further study, Barrilaro says, as some bat species are highly mobile and could be moving from crop to crop. By comparison, the researchers found that bats in cacao agroforestry areas with higher natural forest cover had&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/brazil-natural-landscape-degradation-drives-toxic-metal-buildup-in-bats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291442</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>When bats die, farmers use more pesticides &#038; infant deaths rise, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/when-bats-die-farmers-use-more-pesticides-infant-deaths-rise-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/when-bats-die-farmers-use-more-pesticides-infant-deaths-rise-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Oct 2024 16:26:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/25160519/Screenshot-2024-10-25-at-11.02.59-AM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289220</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Green, Mammals, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A fungal disease killing millions of bats across North America has been connected to higher infant mortality rates in affected areas, according to new research published in the journal Science. Bats eat insects, thus providing free pest control services to many farms. The study found that when bat populations crashed due to the white-nose syndrome [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A fungal disease killing millions of bats across North America has been connected to higher infant mortality rates in affected areas, according to new research published in the journal Science. Bats eat insects, thus providing free pest control services to many farms. The study found that when bat populations crashed due to the white-nose syndrome fungal disease, farmers compensated by increasing insecticide use by 31%. This change corresponded with a nearly 8% rise in infant mortality rates in affected U.S. counties. “[The author] uses simple statistical methods to the most cutting edge techniques, and the takeaway is the same,” Eli Fenichel, an environmental economist from Yale who was not involved in the study, said in an interview with The New York Times. “Fungal disease killed bats, bats stopped eating enough insects, farmers applied more pesticide to maximize profit and keep food plentiful and cheap, the extra pesticide use led to more babies dying. It is a sobering result.” Eyal Frank, the author of the study from the University of Chicago, told Mongabay that the gradual expansion of white-nose syndrome across the U.S. serves as a natural experiment to study how the loss of bats&#8217; pest control affected agricultural practices and public health. The infant mortality rate, or the number of infant deaths before their first birthday, is often used as an indicator of a society&#8217;s overall health. The research found that for every 1% increase in insecticide use, infant mortality increased by 0.25%. This equates to 2.5 infant deaths per&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/when-bats-die-farmers-use-more-pesticides-infant-deaths-rise-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289220</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Senseless’ U.S. trinket trade threatens distinctive Asian bat, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/senseless-u-s-trinket-trade-threatens-distinctive-asian-bat-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/senseless-u-s-trinket-trade-threatens-distinctive-asian-bat-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Aug 2024 16:31:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/30161628/PWB-700x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286793</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystem Services, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Hunting, Illegal Trade, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Poaching, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A growing trend for macabre dead bat ornaments sold via online merchants, many of them based in the United States, is driving unsustainable harvesting from the wild. A new study reveals that small bats from Asia are increasingly being taken from the wild and killed for the burgeoning trade. A team of researchers from the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A growing trend for macabre dead bat ornaments sold via online merchants, many of them based in the United States, is driving unsustainable harvesting from the wild. A new study reveals that small bats from Asia are increasingly being taken from the wild and killed for the burgeoning trade. A team of researchers from the bat trading group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, scrutinized major e-commerce websites, such as Amazon, eBay and Etsy, over a three-month period in 2022. They identified 856 digital listings of dead bat products, including taxidermy specimens mounted in wall frames, jars and necklaces. The researchers published their findings in the European Journal of Wildlife Research. At particular risk is the painted woolly bat (Kerivoula picta), a vividly colored insectivorous species sporting a shock of bright-orange fur and strikingly marked black and orange wings. The species, which inhabits tropical and subtropical forests from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka in the west, east to southern China and most of Southeast Asia, comprised one-quarter of all listings, some 62% of which were sold by U.S.-based vendors. Screenshots of several global e-commerce listings identified in the study, featuring painted woolly bat specimens for sale. Image by UC Davis/CUNY-Queens College via Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC). Scientists have long warned that consumer interest in bat-themed ornaments, such as taxidermy wall decorations, could spark population declines among the diminutive but ecologically indispensable flying mammals. Insectivorous and nectivorous bats have been shown to sustain crucial pest-control, pollination and nutrient-cycling services in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/senseless-u-s-trinket-trade-threatens-distinctive-asian-bat-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286793</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Turning bat caves into sanctuaries: Interview with Mexican ecologist Rodrigo Medellín</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/turning-bat-caves-into-sanctuaries-interview-with-mexican-ecologist-rodrigo-medellin/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/turning-bat-caves-into-sanctuaries-interview-with-mexican-ecologist-rodrigo-medellin/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jan 2024 12:37:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Thelma Gómez Durán]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maria Angeles Salazar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/29123303/Antrozous-vuelo-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278141</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Bats, Conservation, Interviews, Mammals, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The stories people tell about bats seem to come from novels, comics or science-fiction movies. They’re able to emit and hear sounds in frequencies inaccessible to other species. Some undertake epic migrations that take them across oceans. Others can fly as high as 3,000 meters (9,800 feet). They have an enviable immune system that makes [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The stories people tell about bats seem to come from novels, comics or science-fiction movies. They’re able to emit and hear sounds in frequencies inaccessible to other species. Some undertake epic migrations that take them across oceans. Others can fly as high as 3,000 meters (9,800 feet). They have an enviable immune system that makes them resistant to hundreds of viruses. Their list of qualities is as wide as their diversity: scientists today know of at least 1,460 species of bats throughout the world. In all the stories about bats, there’s a common thread: bats are facing growing threats that challenge their survival. The populations of several species are declining considerably. And this threatens to turn many of these stories into tragedies. Of the 154 bat species identified in North America, 142 are found in Mexico. Image courtesy of Rodrigo Medellín. Bats are excellent pollinators and pest control agents, helping in the cultivation of various types of crops. Their remarkable immune system could also hold the answer to the development of new treatments to fight illnesses like cancer. Losing even a single species of bat is therefore no minor issue. “Protecting bats and their habitats helps create a healthier, safer world for our forests, our farmers, and ourselves,” says the “State of the Bats in North America” report, published in 2023 to catalog for the first time the situation of the 154 bat species found in Mexico, the United States and Canada. For two years, 100 experts from the three&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/turning-bat-caves-into-sanctuaries-interview-with-mexican-ecologist-rodrigo-medellin/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/turning-bat-caves-into-sanctuaries-interview-with-mexican-ecologist-rodrigo-medellin/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278141</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study: Tall trees and shade boost bat diversity on Africa’s cocoa farms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/study-tall-trees-and-shade-boost-bat-diversity-on-africas-cocoa-farms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/study-tall-trees-and-shade-boost-bat-diversity-on-africas-cocoa-farms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Aug 2023 19:54:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/17194852/Hipposiderosfuliginosus_Cameroon_DiogoFerreira-CROP-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=272338</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, Central Africa, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Birds, Cacao, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Deforestation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Solutions, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Insect-eating bats that prey on pests in cocoa farms prefer farms that retain large, old-growth trees that shade the plantations. Researchers aiming to find a “sweet spot” in agroforestry systems that supports maximum biodiversity surveyed bat diversity on 28 cocoa farms in south central Cameroon. They found the greatest abundance and diversity of bats on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Insect-eating bats that prey on pests in cocoa farms prefer farms that retain large, old-growth trees that shade the plantations. Researchers aiming to find a “sweet spot” in agroforestry systems that supports maximum biodiversity surveyed bat diversity on 28 cocoa farms in south central Cameroon. They found the greatest abundance and diversity of bats on farms with 65% or higher shade cover — mimicking natural forest conditions in this region. “What our study found is that to maintain insectivorous bats, we not only need shade cover but we need that to be provided by very big, old-growth trees,” Diogo Ferreira, a lead author on the paper, published in the journal Biological Conservation, told Mongabay in an interview. Bats that depend on fruit and nectar, however, prefer high-shade conditions from planted trees, which often provide cocoa farmers with a source of secondary income. Common species on the surveyed farms included avocado, mango, orange and lemon trees, and safou, sometimes known as African plum (Dacryodes edulis), said Ferreira, a Ph.D. student at the Centre for Research in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (known by its Portuguese acronym, CIBIO). The researchers surveyed bat diversity on farms with a variety of shade tree cover; they consisted of high shade with more than 65% cover, medium cover between 35 and 65%, and “low shade cocoa” between 20 and 35% cover. “We propose that if we want to keep both of the bat guilds, we need higher levels of shade cover,” Ferreira said. For Olivier Honnay, a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/study-tall-trees-and-shade-boost-bat-diversity-on-africas-cocoa-farms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-272338</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Small mammals play a big role’: Q&#038;A with Nepali researcher Dibya Raj Dahal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/small-mammals-play-a-big-role-qa-with-nepali-researcher-dibya-raj-dahal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/small-mammals-play-a-big-role-qa-with-nepali-researcher-dibya-raj-dahal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2023 11:23:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/21083354/Dibya-Raj-Dahal-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=271222</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Mammals, Mountains, Protected Areas, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nepal’s diverse landscapes, from the lowland Terai Arc to the high Himalayas, are home to more than 200 mammal species. Beyond the iconic creatures like tigers and rhinos are the many small and inconspicuous ones — bats, rodents, small cats, martens, pangolins, badgers and even hyenas — all of which perform crucial roles in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nepal’s diverse landscapes, from the lowland Terai Arc to the high Himalayas, are home to more than 200 mammal species. Beyond the iconic creatures like tigers and rhinos are the many small and inconspicuous ones — bats, rodents, small cats, martens, pangolins, badgers and even hyenas — all of which perform crucial roles in the ecosystems in which they live. However, these small mammals often go overlooked and underfunded in conservation efforts. The country has yet to carry out a national survey of small mammals, even as they face various threats from habitat loss and degradation, to human-wildlife conflict, climate change, and the wildlife trade. To address this challenge, in 2008, a group of dedicated young researchers fresh out of university established the Small Mammals Conservation and Research Foundation (SMCRF), a nonprofit NGO based in Kathmandu. Alongside its core focus, it also works to improve the livelihoods of local communities through conservation, policy formulation, multistakeholder partnerships, leadership development, and capacity building for young researchers and conservationists. Dibya Raj Dahal, the current president of the SMCRF, has worked with bats for more than a decade, and now divides his time between teaching at a university in eastern Nepal and working on his Ph.D. He says that despite the many hurdles, he’s motivated to carry on to lay the foundation for researchers from future generations. Dibya Raj Dahal, the current president of the SMCRF, has worked with bats for more than a decade. Image courtesy of Dibya Raj Dahal. Mongabay’s Abhaya Raj&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/small-mammals-play-a-big-role-qa-with-nepali-researcher-dibya-raj-dahal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/small-mammals-play-a-big-role-qa-with-nepali-researcher-dibya-raj-dahal/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-271222</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Birds and bats help Peruvian cacao farmers gain higher yields, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/birds-and-bats-help-peruvian-cacao-farmers-gain-higher-yields-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/birds-and-bats-help-peruvian-cacao-farmers-gain-higher-yields-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jul 2023 17:46:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/04025704/cacao_open-sun-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270503</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Birds, Cacao, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forestry, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Plantations, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the arid forests of northern Peru, a rare variety of cacao tree known as blanco de Piura is cultivated by farmers and used to produce &#8220;fine-flavor&#8221; cacao (the main ingredient in chocolate). And, as it turns out, farmers in this region are getting help from some unexpected friends: birds and bats. A new study [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the arid forests of northern Peru, a rare variety of cacao tree known as blanco de Piura is cultivated by farmers and used to produce &#8220;fine-flavor&#8221; cacao (the main ingredient in chocolate). And, as it turns out, farmers in this region are getting help from some unexpected friends: birds and bats. A new study published in the journal Ecological Applications reveals the significant role played by birds and bats in the productivity of cacao trees in irrigated agroforestry systems. Over a two-year period, these winged allies accounted for an impressive 54% of the total cacao tree productivity. Carolina Ocampo-Ariza, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Göttingen and lead author of the study, expressed surprise at the findings, highlighting the valuable &#8220;pest predation service&#8221; provided by birds and bats. The economic benefits of avian and bat contributions are substantial, translating to approximately $959 per hectare per year for Peruvian cacao farmers in the study area. All the farms used in the study are owned by small-scale farmers who are part of the Norandino Ltda. agricultural cooperative. Being part of the cooperative provides these farmers with various benefits, including selling their high-quality cacao at a premium price. These farms use an agroforestry system which combines cacao trees with other species of shade-providing companion trees. These diverse trees attract more diversity to the farm, such as birds, bats, insects and other animals. And while there can be some costs to increased diversity, like mammals eating the fruit, this study finds that,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/birds-and-bats-help-peruvian-cacao-farmers-gain-higher-yields-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/birds-and-bats-help-peruvian-cacao-farmers-gain-higher-yields-study-says/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270503</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Nepal, Chepang take up the challenge to revive their cultural keystone tree</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/in-nepal-chepang-take-up-the-challenge-to-revive-their-cultural-keystone-tree/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/in-nepal-chepang-take-up-the-challenge-to-revive-their-cultural-keystone-tree/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 May 2023 23:00:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/31164159/dhanikram-praja-chepang-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269264</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bats, Bees, Biodiversity, Bushmeat, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Environmental Heroes, Erosion, Flowers, Indigenous Peoples, Meat, Traditional Knowledge, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SILINGE, Nepal — On a sunny afternoon, 70-year-old Dhanikram Praja squats on top of a hillock overlooking the lush green rows of trees dotting his farm, distinct from his other trees, which have already shed their leaves. The chiuri (Diploknema butyracea or Indian butter tree) saplings he planted three decades ago on his farm in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SILINGE, Nepal — On a sunny afternoon, 70-year-old Dhanikram Praja squats on top of a hillock overlooking the lush green rows of trees dotting his farm, distinct from his other trees, which have already shed their leaves. The chiuri (Diploknema butyracea or Indian butter tree) saplings he planted three decades ago on his farm in Silinge, central Nepal, are now in their full glory. “For Chepangs like us, the chiuri plant is everything,” said Nita Praja, Dhanikram’s grandaughter-in-law. Like Dhanikram, Nita is a member of the Chepang tribe, which has been living in Nepal’s hills in Chitwan, Makwanpur, Dhading and Gorkha for centuries. “We often talk about Chepang chiuri and chamero [bats], and the way they work together.” According to folklore, each member of the trio is necessary for the survival of the other two. The Chepang people are needed to look after the chiuri trees; the trees give the Chepang tribe butter, timber and fuelwood that they can sell or use; the bats pollinate the chiuri flowers to produce fruit and are also a traditional delicacy for the people. Prajwol and Nita Praja from the Chepang community with their chirui trees. Image by Abhaya Raj Joshi/ Mongabay However, despite the role the trees play in their culture, growing chirui trees has fallen out of popularity and the community has seen a militarized conservation model restrict their access to protected areas, farmlands and resources. The community finds itself in dire need of additional livelihoods outside of protected areas and subsistence&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/in-nepal-chepang-take-up-the-challenge-to-revive-their-cultural-keystone-tree/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-269264</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Flooding for hydropower dams hits forest-reliant bats hard, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/flooding-for-hydropower-dams-hits-forest-reliant-bats-hard-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/flooding-for-hydropower-dams-hits-forest-reliant-bats-hard-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 May 2023 14:17:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/26140414/Banner_Rhinolophus_trifoliatus-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269074</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Malaysia, Peninsular Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Acoustic, Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Development, Ecosystems, Environment, Flooding, Forest Fragmentation, Forests, Fragmentation, Freshwater, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Hydroelectric Power, Infrastructure, Mammals, Rainforests, Renewable Energy, Research, Tropical Forests, Water, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Flitting through the forest foliage, darting between branches and flawlessly negotiating their way around gargantuan tree trunks, bats have evolved exquisite adaptations to their forest homes. Although inaudible to human ears, the tropical forest canopy is abuzz every night with the tiny mammals’ echolocating calls as they pinpoint and gobble up their insect prey with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Flitting through the forest foliage, darting between branches and flawlessly negotiating their way around gargantuan tree trunks, bats have evolved exquisite adaptations to their forest homes. Although inaudible to human ears, the tropical forest canopy is abuzz every night with the tiny mammals’ echolocating calls as they pinpoint and gobble up their insect prey with deft precision. But these high-performance adaptations, evolved over millions of years, could be the undoing of many species in the face of unprecedented human development pressures, according to new research. Scientists studying insect-eating bats in Peninsular Malaysia have demonstrated that forest-specialist species are particularly prone to local extinction following flooding of the landscape for hydropower development. In contrast, species that find their meals along forest edges or clear above the canopy — which typically have a larger body size, are slower-moving and capable of flying longer distances — were less affected by the development. The team published their results recently in the journal Biological Conservation. Although biologists have long sounded the alarm that hydropower dams pose greater risks to tropical biodiversity than solar or wind power, biodiverse waterways and forests continue to be dammed and flooded in many parts of Southeast Asia. “River damming, by favoring the creation of a myriad of small islands of poor habitat quality, triggered a wave of insectivorous bat extirpations,” Ana Filipa Palmeirim, a tropical forest biologist at the Research Center for Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (CIBIO) at the University of Porto in Portugal and co-author of the new study,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/flooding-for-hydropower-dams-hits-forest-reliant-bats-hard-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-269074</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Social media can be a bat&#8217;s best friend (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/social-media-can-be-a-bats-best-friend-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/social-media-can-be-a-bats-best-friend-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 May 2023 17:41:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Emily Eilers]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/02/10184851/7664772034_c1e4023801_k-e1683653443526-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268427</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bats, Commentary, Conservation, Education, Environment, Mammals, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bats save countries like the United States billions of dollars in pest control every year. They keep rainforests lush and crops growing. Bats even allow us to enjoy our favorite mixed drinks, such as margaritas and palomas. These denizens of the dark play a critical role in ecosystems, and our lives would be much harder [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bats save countries like the United States billions of dollars in pest control every year. They keep rainforests lush and crops growing. Bats even allow us to enjoy our favorite mixed drinks, such as margaritas and palomas. These denizens of the dark play a critical role in ecosystems, and our lives would be much harder if they were not around. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), there are more than 1,400 species of bats worldwide, yet over 200 species are considered “data-deficient” and over 100 species are considered endangered. Bat populations are dropping across the world due to climate change, habitat destruction, persecution, white-nose syndrome, wind energy and hunting. They are in desperate need of our help to survive, but they remain one of the least studied mammals on earth. This lack of research is due to several factors. First, bats are elusive which makes them hard to find and does not allow researchers to study them efficiently. Second, due to bats’ nocturnal nature, people do not see them very often unless it is a chance encounter, such as bats inside their home. This leads to “bat blindness” or people forgetting about bats. Third, bats have long been associated with darkness, vampires, and disease which causes them to be one of the less liked creatures on the planet. All these factors have led to a lack of knowledge and the spread of misinformation about bats. An absence of knowledge creates a significant obstacle to appreciating bats’&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/social-media-can-be-a-bats-best-friend-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/social-media-can-be-a-bats-best-friend-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268427</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Community conservation benefits Sulawesi flying foxes, but more is needed, experts say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/community-conservation-benefits-sulawesi-flying-foxes-but-more-is-needed/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/community-conservation-benefits-sulawesi-flying-foxes-but-more-is-needed/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Apr 2023 02:38:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/04/10162338/Sulawesi-flying-fox--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267352</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Sulawesi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat Loss, Mammals, NGOs, Pollinators, Protected Areas, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[After four years of conservation action, the number of flying foxes — large bat species — flocking to the Indonesian island of Mantawalu Daka has grown from around 8,000 to 40,000, according to PROGRES Sulawesi, an Indonesian NGO. Conservationists have worked with community members to change negative perceptions of bats and limit hunting on the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[After four years of conservation action, the number of flying foxes — large bat species — flocking to the Indonesian island of Mantawalu Daka has grown from around 8,000 to 40,000, according to PROGRES Sulawesi, an Indonesian NGO. Conservationists have worked with community members to change negative perceptions of bats and limit hunting on the island. Protecting bats can improve forest health, and since their return in greater numbers, local fishers report fish are easier to come by around the island. “Our hypothesis is that the bat poop washes out to the outer area of the islands,” Sheherazade, co-executive director of PROGRES Sulawesi, told Mongabay. As it does so, it’s thought the bat guano spurs seagrass growth, which in turn provides habitat for fish. “Now, more and more fishermen report that it’s easier to catch fish closer to the island.” Bat hunting on Mantawalu Daka and other parts of Sulawesi remains a challenge, PROGRES Sulawesi’s Sheherazade explained. For her, it underlines the need to expand conservation action. Photo courtesy of PROGRES Sulawesi. Flying fox ecosystem services The positive impact of nutrient-rich flying fox poop on seagrass and fish abundance needs further research, the conservationists say. Beyond that, there are several scientifically documented benefits of having these bats around. It’s known, for example, that they are key pollinators of durian, an economically valuable fruit across Southeast Asia. And they also pollinate a number of other tropical plants, directly influencing the health of forest ecosystems. “Flying foxes play an important role in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/community-conservation-benefits-sulawesi-flying-foxes-but-more-is-needed/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/community-conservation-benefits-sulawesi-flying-foxes-but-more-is-needed/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-267352</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forests &#038; finance: Setbacks for a rare bat, and progress for an oil pipeline</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/forests-finance-setbacks-for-a-rare-bat-and-progress-for-an-oil-pipeline/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/forests-finance-setbacks-for-a-rare-bat-and-progress-for-an-oil-pipeline/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Feb 2023 13:38:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/02/08130733/mount-namuli-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=265318</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Benin, Mozambique, and Niger]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Bats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crops, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Habitat Loss, Oil, Politics, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Newly described bat from Mozambique mountain under threat, researchers say A forest that harbors Mozambique’s most recently identified species of mammal could disappear within the next two years as small-scale farmers fell trees to grow potatoes and other crops. The Namuli horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus namuli) is named after Mount Namuli, a granite mountain, or inselberg, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Newly described bat from Mozambique mountain under threat, researchers say A forest that harbors Mozambique’s most recently identified species of mammal could disappear within the next two years as small-scale farmers fell trees to grow potatoes and other crops. The Namuli horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus namuli) is named after Mount Namuli, a granite mountain, or inselberg, in the country’s northern Zambezia province. At more than 2,400 meters (7,900 feet), it’s the country’s second-highest peak. But only fragments of the moist evergreen forest growing on its flanks remain, and the bats, which were collected by a research team more than a decade ago in forests higher than 1,200 m (3,900 ft), may soon be without a home. “Mount Namuli is severely threatened, and the natural forests have been heavily degraded, even since we first went there in around 2006,” said Julian Bayliss, the co-author of a recent paper in Acta Chiropterologica describing the new species. “Since that time a lot of the forest, maybe 75%, has been destroyed.” Farmers clear-cut small patches of forest to access the rich loamy soils beneath it that are perfect for growing so-called Irish potatoes. But the soil’s fertility only lasts for three to four years, after which the farmers move on to another patch. Bayliss and his co-authors estimate that at current rates of loss, the forest could disappear entirely by 2025. Namuli horseshoe bats belong to a group known for the horseshoe-shaped structures on their faces that send out soundwaves to help them navigate and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/forests-finance-setbacks-for-a-rare-bat-and-progress-for-an-oil-pipeline/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-265318</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New cave bat species in Sri Lanka highlights need for more research</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/new-cave-bat-species-in-sri-lanka-highlights-need-for-more-research/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/new-cave-bat-species-in-sri-lanka-highlights-need-for-more-research/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Sep 2022 09:24:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/29090647/3.-Colony-of-new-species-flying-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=260871</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Mammals, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — During the 18th and 19th centuries when Sri Lanka was a British colony, many British naturalists studied the island’s rich biodiversity and contributed to profiling the same. Tea planter W.W.A. Phillips was one of them, a man who was particularly interested in mammals, and eventually published the “Manual of the Mammals of Sri [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — During the 18th and 19th centuries when Sri Lanka was a British colony, many British naturalists studied the island’s rich biodiversity and contributed to profiling the same. Tea planter W.W.A. Phillips was one of them, a man who was particularly interested in mammals, and eventually published the “Manual of the Mammals of Sri Lanka” in 1932. A chapter in his book describes the island’s bat fauna, including the Sri Lankan woolly bat (Kerivoula malpasi), a species then new to science. Now, after 90 years since Phillips’ discovery, young researcher Tharaka Kusuminda, a PhD candidate at the University of Ruhuna, and his team have described a new bat species from Sri Lanka, naming it Miniopterus phillipsi in honor of the British naturalist. Their findings are reported in the journal Acta Chiropterologica. Researchers have named the newly discovered species as Miniopterus phillipsi to honor British naturalist W.W.A. Phillips in recognition of his contribution to the study of bats in Sri Lanka. Image courtesy of Tharaka Kusuminda. The new bat is a medium-sized cave-dwelling insectivorous species found in Sri Lanka and India. It was previously misidentified as the Eastern bent-winged bat (Miniopterus fuliginosus), but the new species is generally smaller than M. fuliginosus in both external and skull dimensions. The newly described species does not change the total number of bat species of Sri Lanka, which remains at 31 since the entire population of M. fuliginosus would now be identified as M. phillipsi, says Kusuminda. “M. fuliginosus is described based on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/new-cave-bat-species-in-sri-lanka-highlights-need-for-more-research/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-260871</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Education can change local perception of bats, help conserve species, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/education-can-change-local-perception-of-bats-help-conserve-species-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/education-can-change-local-perception-of-bats-help-conserve-species-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Sep 2022 03:09:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/12025347/Image1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=260162</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Farming, Forestry, Forests, Green, Hunting, Mammals, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Increasing knowledge of ecosystem services is key to conserving bats and supporting communities in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, according to a recent study published in the journal Biodiversitas. Researchers quizzed members of local communities around the Batang Toru ecosystem to understand their perception of bat populations. The researchers found that local communities have limited knowledge [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Increasing knowledge of ecosystem services is key to conserving bats and supporting communities in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, according to a recent study published in the journal Biodiversitas. Researchers quizzed members of local communities around the Batang Toru ecosystem to understand their perception of bat populations. The researchers found that local communities have limited knowledge about positive ecosystem services provided by bats and that they are primarily viewed as a source of meat. Durian is one crop communities grow in agroforestry systems, alongside others such as rubber and sugar palm, and is vital to local livelihoods. Bats play an important role in pollinating the crop. Awareness of this among farmers, however, was low. While many farmers were familiar with bats’ presence on their farms, there was a lack of understanding of this service, Hamid Arrum Harahap, lead author of the study and a PhD candidate at Universitas Andalas, said in an interview. “There are some misconceptions,” he said. “They think that bats don&#8217;t help the pollination process — in fact, [some] think that they make the durian pollination fail.” Bats play an important role in the pollination of durian, a crop that is vital for many local farmers’ livelihoods. Image by Cameron Yee via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). The majority of over 100 respondents were unaware bats pollinated their crop and many did not know a loss of bats could affect crops, according to the study. “One of the concerning findings is that one out of seven farmers are conducting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/education-can-change-local-perception-of-bats-help-conserve-species-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/education-can-change-local-perception-of-bats-help-conserve-species-study-says/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-260162</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Seeing through the swarm: How hawks hunt bat prey</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/seeing-through-the-swarm-how-hawks-hunt-bat-prey/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/seeing-through-the-swarm-how-hawks-hunt-bat-prey/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Aug 2022 16:43:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/23153824/huntinghawk2-768x448.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=259502</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Mexico, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Bats, Birds, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Raptors are famous for their ability to home in on prey and attack with precision. But how does this work when they hunt animals that flock, school or swarm, forming bewildering displays that appear to move everywhere all at once? A study published today in Nature Communications reports that Swainson’s hawks (Buteo swainsoni) and some other raptors [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Raptors are famous for their ability to home in on prey and attack with precision. But how does this work when they hunt animals that flock, school or swarm, forming bewildering displays that appear to move everywhere all at once? A study published today in Nature Communications reports that Swainson’s hawks (Buteo swainsoni) and some other raptors solve this problem by aiming toward a fixed point in space within a swarm, rather than focusing on one particular animal. “This study gives new meaning to the concept of ‘keeping your eyes on the prize!’” Nico Arcilla, president of the International Bird Conservation Partnership, who was not involved in the study, told Mongabay in an email. “Except that in the case of Swainson&#8217;s Hawks attacking bats in a flock, apparently the key to success is keeping their eyes off the prize, off the individual bats themselves … and on the fixed point that is their target.” Composite frame sequence of a Swainson’s hawk attacking swarming Mexican free-tailed bats at a bat cave in New Mexico, USA. The white lines connect the hawk to the bat that it captures, and remain parallel over time showing that the bat remains on a constant bearing. Photo by Caroline Brighton (Oxford Flight Group) A team of researchers went out to the Chihuahuan desert in New Mexico, U.S., to observe Swainson’s hawks and other raptors hunting amid swarms of nearly a million Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis). “At dusk, the bats stream out of their cave roost site and the hawks then swoop&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/seeing-through-the-swarm-how-hawks-hunt-bat-prey/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-259502</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Comical’ bat not seen in 40 years is found again in a Rwandan park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/comical-bat-not-seen-in-40-years-is-found-again-in-a-rwandan-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/comical-bat-not-seen-in-40-years-is-found-again-in-a-rwandan-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Mar 2022 16:15:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/08070549/Screen-Shot-2022-03-07-at-11.05.24-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253490</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Rediscovered Species, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“When we caught it, we all just looked at it and said, ‘You look ridiculous. Look how big your nose leaf is,’” Jon Flanders, director of endangered species interventions at Bat Conservation International, told Mongabay. The odd-looking creature in their net was a Hill&#8217;s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hilli)—the first seen since 1981. “We feared the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[“When we caught it, we all just looked at it and said, ‘You look ridiculous. Look how big your nose leaf is,’” Jon Flanders, director of endangered species interventions at Bat Conservation International, told Mongabay. The odd-looking creature in their net was a Hill&#8217;s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hilli)—the first seen since 1981. “We feared the species may have already gone extinct,” Flanders said. “To think that we&#8217;ve been the first people to actually see this bat in almost 40 years … It was just remarkable.” The Hill’s horseshoe bat, not seen in 40 years, was found again in Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park. Photo by  Jon Flanders, Bat Conservation International. Flanders was part of a 10-day, 10-night expedition searching for the elusive bat in the old-growth cloud forests of Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park. The fieldwork was brutal, he said, almost continuous rain pummeling down as they hiked through the steep terrain on little sleep. But their work paid off one night around 4 a.m. when they pulled the odd-looking bat from their net. “We knew immediately that the bat we had captured was unusual and remarkable,” Winifred Frick, chief scientist of Bat Conservation International and a member of the expedition, said in a press release. “The facial features were exaggerated to the point of comical.” As soon as they caught the fluffy, wrinkle-faced mammal, Flanders said, the group went nearly silent and began poring over textbooks to be sure of their find. On their quest for the lost bat, the researchers&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/comical-bat-not-seen-in-40-years-is-found-again-in-a-rwandan-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-253490</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Top 15 species discoveries from 2021 (Photos)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2021-photos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2021-photos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Dec 2021 18:29:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/21182636/Screen-Shot-2021-12-21-at-12.26.13-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250851</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Ecuador, Global, Guiana Shield, India, Latin America, South America, Venezuela, West Africa, and Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Ants, Bats, Biodiversity, Birding, Botany, Carnivores, Cetaceans, Charismatic Animals, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Cryptic Species, Culture, Deforestation, DNA, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Environment, Flowers, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Herps, Insects, Islands, Lizards, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, New Discovery, Oceans, Oil Drilling, Orchids, Owls, Plants, Plastic, Rainforests, Reptiles, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Shipping, Snakes, Solutions, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With humans sending probes to Mars and the sun, one might think we’ve already explored the full extent of our own planet. But scientists say we’ve only begun to find and describe the riches here on Earth. “I think most people believe that we know most species on Earth … but in the best-case scenario, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With humans sending probes to Mars and the sun, one might think we’ve already explored the full extent of our own planet. But scientists say we’ve only begun to find and describe the riches here on Earth. “I think most people believe that we know most species on Earth … but in the best-case scenario, we know 20% of Earth’s species,” Mario Moura, a professor at the Federal University of Paraíba in Brazil, told Mongabay in a March 2021 interview.  Moura is the co-creator of a study that maps out places in the world likely to hold the highest number of species unknown to science. As it turns out, there are a lot. This year, Mongabay reported on newly described species from nearly every continent, including a fuzzy orange bat from West Africa, tiny screech owls from Brazil, an acrobatic North American skunk, a snake from the Himalayas (found on Instagram), a new whale species in the Gulf of Mexico, an Ecuadoran ant whose name broke the gender binary, and an Australian “killer tobacco.” Map showing the portion of undiscovered species worldwide. Image by Mario R. Moura. (Moura and Jetz 2021) “Every year, as scientists explore the world’s ecosystems, search herbaria and fungaria, sequence organisms’ DNA and, increasingly, browse social media, they come across species of plants and fungi that have not been scientifically described,” says the “State of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2020” report, released by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. However, though a species may be new&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2021-photos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-250851</doi>				</item>
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