PLIGHT OF BATS
as Halloween decorations. This trade is unsustainable and, despite claims, these bats do not die naturally. This issue has low visibility, with few research papers on the more recent effects, and methods of detecting bat trade are often ineffective, relying mainly on interviews and surveys with local vendors and hunters. In the Americas, the outbreak of white-nose syndrome, a Paleotropical disease which has spread to Neotropical areas, is also wiping out colonies across the Continent, but that’s a whole different story. In short, we are at risk of losing many of these mysterious mammals before we even fully understand them.
Oli Aylen is an MSc student focusing on bat bioacoustics and sampling methods. He spent his early childhood in the Cotswolds and now lives in New Zealand. If you are interested in learning more, see www.batcon.org @oli_aylen / oliaylen@gmail.com
In short, we are at risk of losing many of these mysterious mammals before we even fully understand them.
Pictured: The bright colouration of Kerivoula picta - also known as the painted bat - has seen it prized for use as a tourist souvenir
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