ast year was a good year for bat conservation. Among several notable accomplishments, Bat Conservation International (BCI) worked with Jamaican authorities to complete the purchase of Stony Hill Cave and the surrounding land to provide long-term protection for the last known maternity roost of Critically Endangered Jamaican flower bats (Phyllonycteris aphylla), or the “marshmallow bats” according to my youngest daughter.

We discovered the first-ever maternity roost for the Critically Endangered Hill’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hilli), building on our earlier rediscovery of the bat in 2019. It had been presumed extinct for nearly 40 years before BCI and our partners found the bat in Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park in 2019. We announced the species’ rediscovery in 2022, published the findings in Biodiversity Data Journal, and then discovered the maternity roost tree all in one year. This sets the stage for future conservation now that we understand more about the bat’s habitat needs.

long the coast of Kenya and Tanzania lies a narrow strip of land riddled with caves that provide essential habitat for a species found nowhere else: the Hildegarde’s tomb bat (Taphozous hildegardeae). This high-flying, sheath-tailed bat roosts in the caves and forages in dry coastal forests and scrublands, from Malindi in the north to Dar es Salaam in the south, as well as the islands of Pemba and Zanzibar. The species is increasingly threatened due to habitat destruction and other activities in and around the caves.

In 2020, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) officially listed the Hildegarde’s tomb bat as Endangered due to its limited range, fragmented colonies, and habitat decline. According to Dr. Paul Webala, senior lecturer in wildlife biology at Maasai Mara University in Narok, Kenya, who is co-author of the IUCN report, the population of Hildegarde’s tomb bats in Kenya may number fewer than 10,000—possibly no more than 5,000—bats. The numbers in Tanzania are unknown.

ater is the new gold in the southwestern United States. High temperatures, increased evaporation of surface water, and reduced snowfall have resulted in unprecedented water shortages in western reservoirs, according to a report from the Climate Office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The report projects broad threats to drinking, agricultural, and tribal water supplies, noting that hydropower generation, fishing, and recreational activities are also at risk. These shortages also impact wildlife, including bats.

BCI Water for Wildlife Field Lead, Ethan Sandoval, speaks with boots-on-the-ground knowledge of the impact of diminishing water resources on North American bats.

July 2, 2022. The U.S. Forest Service incident commander announces that the fire has been contained, but some areas of the forest, including a thick stand of dead trees on a steep slope, continue to burn. The commander reports that 319 personnel have been deployed to achieve this level of containment.

r. Veronica Zamora-Gutierrez wants people in Mexico to know that bats provide value to ecosystems. A researcher at Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigación para el Desarrollo Integral Regional (CONACYT-CIIDIR IPN) in Durango, Mexico, she is a former BCI Student Scholar interested in studying ecosystem services that show how bats fit into the landscape and benefit people.

I’m studying the ecosystem services of pollinating bats. We study a crop in Mexico called pitaya, which is very culturally and economically important in some areas. Pitaya is a fruit that grows on certain species of columnar cactus, generally from the genus Stenocereus. In collaboration with colleagues from the University of Southampton, UK, we were able to place an economic value on bat pollination of pitaya. It was not just a mathematical extrapolation—we worked with the community and estimated the dependence of the crop on bats. This study gave us a deep understanding of how important bats are for the community that relies on harvesting pitaya.

ust like her dad did in 2000, Austin, Texas, high school senior Jasalyn Franco joined Austin Youth River Watch. The group provides hands-on environmental education for high school students. Last summer, Bat Conservation International helped the group put on a “bat week” program that Franco and other students participated in to learn more about bats.