BCI manages 1,500 acres of rugged terrain surrounding Bracken Cave in Texas to protect the largest bat colony in the world.
Photo by Jonathan Alonzo

More than 1,400 bat species around the world illustrate our planet’s adaptability—and the perils our planet currently faces.

Over thousands of years, bats remarkably evolved into flying mammals with sophisticated echolocation to fly through the night, consuming prodigious amounts of insects and pollinating as they feed. Bats evolved to support natural habitats all around the world by dispersing seeds and regenerating vegetation. Healthy ecosystems depend on bats. All of life depends on healthy ecosystems. Saving bats requires saving these natural habitats, which benefits us all.

Bat Conservation International (BCI) is determined to protect bats and the natural systems they support—all around the world. To expand our reach and our impact, we’re running fast and working efficiently.

Between July 2021 and June 2022, we reached far-flung corners of the world to support some of the rarest and most overlooked species. We confirmed the existence of a bat species that had not been seen in 40 years in the forests of Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda; We delivered habitat support for endangered Florida bonneted bats in urban Miami; We worked alongside local partners in northern Mexico to plant thousands of agave plants to provide critical sustenance for migrating Mexican long-nosed bats—a species the Endangered Species Coalition declared as one of “10 U.S. Species Already Imperiled by Climate Change.”

Our success is driven by brilliant scientists and tireless conservationists, by strategic focus and relentless commitment to delivering support for wildlife and their habitats on the ground and by honoring the trust we have been granted by our partners and donors.

Together, with your continued and increasing support, we will continue to expand our reach around the world to assure the survival of bats, our planet, and ourselves.

Mike Daulton / Executive Director

Acoustic monitoring in the dense and vast Rwandan rainforest continues to be key to locating Hill’s horseshoe bats.
Photo from Getty Images

In the vast, mountainous rainforest of Nyungwe National Park in Central Africa, a small single bat is found in a mist net. After catching the bat, Bat Conservation International’s (BCI) scientists could record their echolocation calls.

Two years later, by comparing morphological measurements and tissue samples from international museums and engaging world-renowned bat experts in the review process, the small bat was scientifically confirmed to be the elusive, Critically Endangered Hill’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hilli)—a species that had not been seen since 1981.

Rediscovery of the Hill’s horseshoe bat is a testament to tenacity, BCI’s commitment to account for all endangered bat species, and in-country partners’ determination to ensure the work was able to get done.

—Dr. Jon Flanders Director of Endangered Species Interventions

Pregnant Mexican long-nosed bats leave their winter roost in central Mexico and migrate hundreds of miles north along “nectar corridors” to give birth.
Photo by Dr. Kristen Lear

Under a scorching sun in the Mexican state of Coahuila, Bat Conservation International’s (BCI) partner Especies, Sociedad y Hábitat, A.C. works alongside the communities of Estanque de Norias, Ejido La Reforma, Ejido 20 de noviembre, La Victoria, and Rancho La Rita to plant over 7,700 native agaves. The work is brutally hot, physically demanding, and necessary to save Endangered Mexican long-nosed bats (Leptonycteris nivalis).

—Dr. Kristen Lear, Agave Restoration Program Manager

Teams employed by BCI conduct sweeps during seasonal migratory periods to collect data on bat fatalities caused by wind energy turbines.
Photo by Donald Solick

Hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus)—North America’s most widespread bat species—could decline by 50% over the next five years unless conservation measures to reduce bat fatalities are used immediately at wind facilities.

Hoary bats, eastern red bats (Lasisrus borealis), and silver-haired bats (Lasiurus noctivagans) are particularly vulnerable to colliding with the rotating blades of wind turbines. Without intervention, these bat species face alarming mortality rates as the wind energy industry grows, according to a scientific report co-authored by Dr. Winifred Frick, Chief Scientist for BCI, and Dr. Nick Friedenberg. The report, published in the journal Biological Conservation, models data on the population dynamics of hoary bats with projections that wind energy capacity will nearly double in the U.S. and Canada by 2030.

“The fatality rate of hoary bats at wind farms is alarming, and the potential risk to this species is of growing concern, especially as wind energy expands,” says Dr. Frick. But risks of massive decline and possible extinction can be reduced. For example, curtailment, angling the blades parallel to the wind to slow or stop them from turning during periods of high risk, reduces bat fatalities by an average of 62% while only slightly reducing annual energy production.

Since 2003, BCI’s Bats and Wind Energy Program has worked to find solutions that promote carbon-free energy production and prevent bat population declines.

—Dr. Winifred Frick, Chief Scientist

Nightly, during the summer, millions of bats fly from Bracken Cave in what’s called a “batnado” (rhymes with tornado.)
Photo by Jonathan Alonzo

Bracken Cave is home to the world’s largest known maternity colony of bats—an estimated 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis). Pregnant female bats migrate from Central Mexico to Bracken Cave each March and April to give birth. In the Hill Country of Texas near San Antonio, BCI owns and manages the cave and the 1,500-acre preserve surrounding it.

Bracken Cave is vital to the science of understanding migratory bat species. It also offers the public a paramount opportunity to witness the wonders of bats. During summer, visitors to the cave assemble near dusk on wooden benches near the entrance to observe millions of bats flying from the mouth of the cave into the evening sky for their nightly meal.

The experience is sensory. Visitors hear bats in flight grow dramatically louder, watch increasing numbers of bats rise from the cave, feel the rush of air generated by flight motions, and catch whiffs of pungent bat guano from below.

—Fran Hutchins, Director, Bracken Cave Preserve

Bat Conservation International continues our impactful work—strategically and effectively—thanks to the generosity of our supporters. Bat Conservation International is a registered 501(c)3 organization.

Legacy Circle members commit to an enduring future for bat conservation by naming BCI in their will, trust, or other planned gift. If you’re interested in leaving a legacy for bats, contact legacy@batcon.org.

An Endangered Livingstone’s fruit bat (Pteropus livingstonii) is evaluated by BCI researchers.
Photo by Dr. Isabella Mandl

An Endangered Livingstone’s fruit bat (Pteropus livingstonii) is evaluated by BCI researchers.
Photo by Dr. Isabella Mandl