Mission 1

IMPLEMENT
ENDANGERED
SPECIES
INTERVENTIONS

Bats are no match for modern-day threats like climate change, habitat fragmentation and loss, disease, invasive species, poaching, and other stressors.

Kevin Pierson
Chief of Conservation and Global Strategy

Bat houses are proving effective
in saving endangered species.
Photo by Melquisedec Gamba-Rios, Ph.D.

Saving a single cave in Mexico & creating a bat sanctuary

MEXICO

In the foothills of El Tepozteco – a majestic mountain range that attracts thousands of tourists from Mexico City each weekend and has, in turn, accelerated residential and commercial development — a colony of bats the size of your palm might have been lost through the single swipe of a bulldozer or other human intrusions.

In collaboration with our partners in Mexico, Bat Conservation International (BCI) is on a mission to save Cueva del Diablo, a cave that serves as the only known winter roost and mating location for dwindling numbers of Endangered Mexican long-nosed bats (Leptonycteris nivalis). Already, clearing land to build weekend getaway retreats has come within five feet of the main entrance of the cave, and construction above the cave threatens to collapse part of the cave’s passages.

Top photo: The lush foothills near Mexico City conceal the only known mating roost for Endangered Mexican long-nosed bats.

Photo by Dr. Ana Ibarra.

Bottom photo: Bulldozers above the cave were stopped to protect the bat roost below.

Photo by Dr. Ana Ibarra.

Working with local communities, civil and environmental authorities, local NGOs, and academic partners, BCI made significant progress in securing sanctuary status for the cave and surrounding area to protect the bat roost in perpetuity.

MEXICO

Saving a single cave in Mexico & creating a bat sanctuary

In the foothills of El Tepozteco – a majestic mountain range that attracts thousands of tourists from Mexico City each weekend and has, in turn, accelerated residential and commercial development — a colony of bats the size of your palm might have been lost through the single swipe of a bulldozer or other human intrusions.

In collaboration with our partners in Mexico, Bat Conservation International (BCI) is on a mission to save Cueva del Diablo, a cave that serves as the only known winter roost and mating location for dwindling numbers of Endangered Mexican long-nosed bats (Leptonycteris nivalis). Already, clearing land to build weekend getaway retreats has come within five feet of the main entrance of the cave, and construction above the cave threatens to collapse part of the cave’s passages.

Top photo: The lush foothills near Mexico City conceal the only known mating roost for Endangered Mexican long-nosed bats.

Photo by Dr. Ana Ibarra.

Bottom photo: Bulldozers above the cave were stopped to protect the bat roost below.

Photo by Dr. Ana Ibarra.

Working with local communities, civil and environmental authorities, local NGOs, and academic partners, BCI made significant progress in securing sanctuary status for the cave and surrounding area to protect the bat roost in perpetuity.

Rwanda

“Listening” for bats in an African rainforest

Top photo: Nyungwe National Park is highly mountainous.
Photo by Dr. Winifred Frick.
Bottom photo: The Rwandan field team poses for a photo.
Photo by Dr. Winifred Frick.

The sounds of the vast, mountainous rainforest of Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda are complex. There are uniquely pitched cadences of hundreds of species of birds, shrieks and screeches from 13 primate species (including the park’s famed chimpanzees), and the sounds of rain – lots of rain. Then, there are the sounds of the national park’s bats, sounds inaudible to humans.

In collaboration with the Rwanda Development Board, Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association, and the Nyungwe Management Company, Bat Conservation International (BCI) is working with Nyungwe National Park rangers using acoustic detectors to search for some of the rarest species of bats in the world.

Park rangers, assisted by BCI, install acoustic detectors in various locations within the park to record bat echolocation calls. The data are then analyzed to determine species presence and distribution patterns, which are then used to guide conservation management decisions.

Damara woolly bat (Kerivoula argentata).
Photo by Dr. Winifred Frick.

Rwanda

“Listening” for bats in an African rainforest

The sounds of the vast, mountainous rainforest of Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda are complex. There are uniquely pitched cadences of hundreds of species of birds, shrieks and screeches from 13 primate species (including the park’s famed chimpanzees), and the sounds of rain – lots of rain. Then, there are the sounds of the national park’s bats, sounds inaudible to humans.

In collaboration with the Rwanda Development Board, Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association, and the Nyungwe Management Company, Bat Conservation International (BCI) is working with Nyungwe National Park rangers using acoustic detectors to search for some of the rarest species of bats in the world.

Park rangers, assisted by BCI, install acoustic detectors in various locations within the park to record bat echolocation calls. The data are then analyzed to determine species presence and distribution patterns, which are then used to guide conservation management decisions.

Top photo: Nyungwe National Park is highly mountainous.
Photo by Dr. Winifred Frick.
Bottom photo: The Rwandan field team poses for a photo.
Photo by Dr. Winifred Frick.

Damara woolly bat (Kerivoula argentata).
Photo by Dr. Winifred Frick.

Employing state-of-the-art acoustic monitoring technology in one of Africa’s oldest rainforests is a model for what can be done to protect endangered bats.

Jon Flanders, Ph.D.
Director, Endangered Species Interventions

Jon Flanders posing for picture in forest

Photo by Dr. Winifred Frick.

Florida bonneted bat Eumops floridanus.
Photo by Joel Satore.

FLORIDA

Image above: Roosting locations are mapped around Miami. Monitoring where Florida bonneted bats roost is essential to understanding adaptability.

Racing to save the rarest bat in the U.S.

With a wingspan of 20 inches, Florida bonneted bats (Eumops floridanus) are one of the largest insectivorous bats in North America.

Bat Conservation International (BCI) and a broad spectrum of partners are racing to provide these federally Endangered bats with roosting and foraging sites as climate change and encroaching development decimate areas on which they depend. To save diminishing numbers of Florida bonneted bats, BCI:

Documented (and continue to monitor) the second-largest known population of Florida bonneted bats.
Identified a new artificial roost design that provides a long-term roosting habitat for the species.
Expanded an acoustic monitoring network to provide greater detail on ranging patterns and foraging habitat preferences.
Contacted over 10,000 people to increase awareness and support for the species.

An evolving success story

A partnership between Bat Conservation International (BCI), Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), and Zoo Miami has become a model for protecting endangered species in urban environments.

Photo by Dr. Winifred Frick.

Florida bonneted bat Eumops floridanus.
Photo by Joel Satore.

Racing to save the rarest bat in the U.S.

With a wingspan of 20 inches, Florida bonneted bats (Eumops floridanus) are one of the largest insectivorous bats in North America.

Bat Conservation International (BCI) and a broad spectrum of partners are racing to provide these federally Endangered bats with roosting and foraging sites as climate change and encroaching development decimate areas on which they depend. To save diminishing numbers of Florida bonneted bats, BCI:

Documented (and continue to monitor) the second-largest known population of Florida bonneted bats.
Identified a new artificial roost design that provides a long-term roosting habitat for the species.
Expanded an acoustic monitoring network to provide greater detail on ranging patterns and foraging habitat preferences.
Contacted over 10,000 people to increase awareness and support for the species.

FLORIDA

Image above: Roosting locations are mapped around Miami. Monitoring where Florida bonneted bats roost is essential to understanding adaptability.

An evolving success story

A partnership between Bat Conservation International (BCI), Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), and Zoo Miami has become a model for protecting endangered species in urban environments.

Photo by Dr. Winifred Frick.

fiji

Jason Corbett assesses a cave in Fiji.
Photo by Dr.Jon Flanders.

In collaboration with key partners around the world, Bat Conservation International is working to end bat extinctions worldwide

In 2021, we:

Helped support the rebuilding of Nakanacagi Village in Fiji after tropical cyclones severely impacted villagers who became the custodians of a bat sanctuary that contains the last known maternity roost for the Fijian free-tailed bat (Chaerephon bregullae).

jamaica

A field team poses for a photo in a Jamaican cave.
Photo by Dr, Melquisedec Gamba-Rios.

Engaged increasing numbers of stakeholders and landowners to secure the protection of Jamaica’s St. Clair cave, home to Critically Endangered Jamaican greater funnel-eared bats (Natalus jamaicensis).

fiji

Jason Corbett assesses a cave in Fiji.
Photo by Dr.Jon Flanders.

In collaboration with key partners around the world, Bat Conservation International is working to end bat extinctions worldwide

In 2021, we:

Helped support the rebuilding of Nakanacagi Village in Fiji after tropical cyclones severely impacted villagers who became the custodians of a bat sanctuary that contains the last known maternity roost for the Fijian free-tailed bat (Chaerephon bregullae).

Engaged increasing numbers of stakeholders and landowners to secure the protection of Jamaica’s St. Clair cave, home to Critically Endangered Jamaican greater funnel-eared bats (Natalus jamaicensis).

jamaica

A field team poses for a photo in a Jamaican cave.
Photo by Dr, Melquisedec Gamba-Rios.

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