Bat Signals

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• Ecological Countermeasures

Ecological Countermeasures to Prevent Pandemics

New paper focuses on ways to avoid zoonotic spillover
chart displaying how to protect where bats eat and roost
Image Credit (top and bottom): Graphics from Nature Communications, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License: nature.com/articles/s41467-024-46151-9#rightslink, Plowright et al 2024, Nature Communications
progression of landscape and vegetation from barren to lush, showcasing various stages of growth and development
Prevent pandemics before they begin by protecting the places bats eat and sleep, as well as people at risk. This is part of the best strategy to combat the next pandemic, according to a new paper by lead author Raina Plowright, Ph.D., at Cornell University, Bat Conservation International (BCI)’s Chief Scientist Winifred Frick, Ph.D., and BCI’s Director of Conservation Evidence Teague O’Mara, Ph.D., who were co-authors on the study, along with other collaborators. The study, “Ecological Countermeasures to Prevent Pathogen Spillover and Subsequent Pandemics,” was published in Nature Communications in early 2024. It focuses on the importance of ecological intervention to prevent the zoonotic virus spillover that moves a pathogen from animals to humans.

The authors propose ecological intervention as the best strategy to prevent the next pandemic. They discuss how proactive policies, including integrated ecological approaches to be used alongside medical responses, are needed to develop a comprehensive pandemic prevention strategy.

Some of the ecological approaches they name include protecting intact ecosystems and habitat, avoiding land use changes, curbing the trade of bats, and using responsible practices when humans and wildlife share space.

Notes iconCheck out the article in Nature Communications at doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46151-9
• United Nations

A Voice for Bats

BCI speaks up for bats at United Nations Convention of Migratory Species
reserved spot in a conference for Bat Conservation International
BCI participated in the United Nations Convention of Migratory Species, which was held in Uzbekistan in February.
Photo: Winifred Frick, Ph.D.
In February, Bat Conservation International (BCI) Chief Scientist Winifred Frick, Ph.D., traveled to Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to speak up for bats at the United Nations Convention of Migratory Species. Representing BCI and the Global Union of Bat Diversity Networks (GBatNet), she joined Christian Voigt, Ph.D., from Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research to raise awareness of threats to migratory bats, including wind energy development.

Frick represents BCI and GBatNet on CMS’s Energy Task Force, working to reduce the threats that renewable energy development poses to migratory species. At the Samarkand meeting, Frick also made a floor statement in support of a proposed action to protect the African straw-colored fruit bat (Eidolon helvum). This migratory species crosses Africa to congregate at a national park in Zambia each year and is threatened by development.

Leaf Shave Helps Boost Bats

BCI selected as Earth Month Nonprofit Partner
Leaf Shave logo
Leaf Shave, a business that sells plastic-free razors and is committed to environmental causes, selected Bat Conservation International (BCI) as its 2024 Earth Month Nonprofit Partner. Throughout April 2024, Leaf Shave shared information about BCI on its website, emails, and social media and donated a portion of sales from its fig colorway razors to save bats.

“Each year, our team selects a nonprofit organization to support during Earth Month,” says Brooke Foley, a member of Leaf Shave’s marketing team. “This year, we chose to support Bat Conservation International because bats need our help. We hope to shed light on important ecological issues and work to educate about bats and the work of BCI, as well as inspire others to get involved, volunteer, and spread awareness.”

• youth involvement

Girl Scout Power

Webinar focuses on sharing bat knowledge
As part of Alivia Hopkins’s work for her Girl Scouts USA Silver Award—the highest honor available in her sixth-to-eighth-grade Cadette age group—she teamed up with Bat Conservation International (BCI) Agave Restoration Program Director, Kristen Lear, Ph.D., on a Bat Chat webinar in April.

Hopkins was inspired to coordinate the Bat Chat webinar after she saw a similar webinar last year, so she and her mom reached out to BCI. Hopkins recorded a short video message about the importance of bats and introduced Lear, a Girl Scout Lifetime Member. Hopkins, a dedicated bat enthusiast, worked with her school’s “Green Team” to share a bat fact over the public address system at her school every day in April. The webinar encouraged greater awareness, and was attended by several organizations with connections to Hopkins’s Girl Scout Troop, including schools and universities. Watch BCI webinars at youtube.com/@BatConservation/videos.

• bci interactive

Experience Bats

BCI website now features a guide to bat-viewing sites around the world
Take a bat-viewing trip around the world from the comfort of your own home, or start planning bat-focused travel with Bat Conservation International (BCI)’s new interactive map.

The new feature on BCI’s website focuses on ways people can enjoy the world’s 1,400-plus bat species in person or virtually, featuring more than 30 global bat-viewing destinations to enjoy. Visit U.S. sites like Alabama’s Sauta Cave—where you can see hundreds of thousands of gray bats—or venture to a ghost-town mine in Colorado that is home to a quarter million bats. Travel to Pemba Island in Tanzania to see mega-size flying foxes, see Monfort Bat Cave’s two million fruit bats in the Philippines, or visit Naracoorte, Australia’s largest breeding colony of Southern bentwing bats.

binoculars iconExperience bats at batcon.org/experience
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