A team of researchers has concluded that, in addition to being the Philippines’ largest and most populous island, Luzon Island is also home to the greatest concentration of unique species…
For the first time since 1970, a team of scientists has reviewed global trends in bat mortality. Unprecedented in scope, the review, published in Mammal Review, reveals that over half…
The fatal white-nose syndrome (WNS) that has decimated bat populations across North America has now made its way to western United States. On March 11, a group of hikers discovered a…
An app and portal aimed at improving bat surveys and broadening participation in bat population monitoring
Despite widespread protests by conservation groups and citizens, Mauritius will start culling its native Mauritius fruit bats (Pteropus niger) tomorrow. These bats are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red…
Rainforests are full of bats, and with over 1,300 known species around the world bats really do come in all shapes and sizes. Each species has its own range of…
The government of Mauritius has announced its plans of culling 20 percent of the endemic and vulnerable Mauritius fruit bat (Pteropus niger) population on the island. The government hopes that…
Identidad Madidi is bringing biologists to little-known parts of Madidi National Park, where they are finding some surprising things.
The world’s tropical forests are threatened by deforestation due to agricultural, industrial and urban expansion; as well as by drought, fire, and disease, all worsened by climate change. Human reforestation…
Sunda flying fox silhouettes against the sunset. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs. Rain or clear, wind or still, full moon or no. Every night thousands of flying foxes rise from a…
Tracking lions, photographing bats, collecting insects, bringing elephants home: it's all part of a day's work in Gorongosa National Park. This vast wilderness in Mozambique—including savannah and montane rainforest—was ravaged…
Straw-colored fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) at the Zoological Garden Berlin, Germany. This species, along with other fruit bats, is present in the Ebola impacted area and may have been a…
Big-fanged bat threatened by dam construction New bat, Hypsugo dolichodon, showing off its remarkable canines. Photo by: Judith L. Eger. What big teeth you have, my dear! The better to…
Despite vast forest loss, the Anjouan scops owl is holding on in the Comoros Islands The Anjouan scops owl. Photo by: Alan Van Norman. The Anjouan scops owl—an elusive owl…
West African country lost 4.4 percent of forests in 12 years, new incentives may help stymie future destruction Liberia is one of the last strongholds of intact forest in West…
A ground-breaking bat call library is released from one of India’s biodiversity hotspots The Western Ghats is one of the world’s eight richest biodiversity hotspots. A UNESCO World Heritage site,…
New research in Thailand finds birds and bats key to reforestation efforts Tropical forest restoration projects are exciting research sites for scientists studying factors that affect ecosystem recovery. Here, scientists…
Development of roads and other structures disturb large, continuous patches of habitat for wildlife. This habitat fragmentation is one of the biggest contributors to species extinction, as the local ecology…
The world's worst Ebola outbreak was likely begun by a hunter shooting a fruit bat for their dinner or the market, according to the UN. The outbreak has killed over…
As an environmental journalist covering stories from the great Arctic ice melt to the rhino poaching crisis in Africa, you'll forgive me if sometimes in the morning—before I turn my…
In 1890 Lamberto Loria collected 45 specimens—all female—of a small bat from the wilds of Papua New Guinea. Nearly 25 years later, in 1914, the species was finally described and…
Species monitoring can be a very invasive form of research. For instance, bird-banding – in which identification bands are placed around birds’ legs to track their movements – usually requires…
The Theory of Island Biogeography, coined by Robert MacArthur and E.O. Wilson, helps describe why species are distributed as they are. The larger and closer an island is to another…
In a cave in Australia, researchers from the University of New South Wales discovered giant fossilized sperm. The sperm were produced 17 million years ago by a group of tiny,…
Suren Gazaryan. Photo by: Goldman Environmental Prize. In a country increasingly known for its authoritarian-style crackdown on activists and dissidents, a bat scientist has won a number of impressive victories…
Fruit-eating bats play an important role in forest regeneration, collecting and spreading seeds far and wide. However, human development may be stymying bat-mediated dispersal. In a new study published in…
A team of researchers has discovered a new species of bat in Brazil, which has put a previously known species, Bokermann's nectar bat (Lonchophylla bokermanni), at risk of extinction. Long…
An international research team led by Professor Petr Koube and Darina Koubínová has discovered five new species of vesper bats during a series of expeditions to Senegal's Niokolo-Koba National Park.…
A dolphin swimming through the world’s oceans after fish, and a bat flying through the air with its membranous wings to catch insects or eat fruit: at first glance, it…
One of the world's least-known flying foxes could face extinction by rising seas and changing precipitation patterns due to global warming, according to a new study in Zookeys. The research,…
