Bat Conservation International

07.08.26 Imagine choosing between a fancy hotel room and a small camping tent. Both are places where you can get some rest, but they feel very different. And you probably prefer one to another. Bats face similar choices when selecting where to live. Some prefer large caves with high ceilings where they can fly freely. Others choose small, cozy spaces that are warm and damp. But bats don't pick caves at random.

05.27.26 By Stevie Nicole Florent Detection dog, Jimmy, hard at work conducting surveys. By Fiona Jackson/ Skylos Ecology It’s gonna be a hot one, folks. It’s set to be a hot summer’s day in Victoria, Australia, with the temperature expected to exceed 35 °C (or 95 °F for many reading this), but our incredible detection dog teams are out at first light to start surveying for bat fatalities on a wind farm. These dogs are trained to detect bird and bat carcasses on wind farms.

05.20.26 By Wendy K. Probst Round-eared bats peer out from an active termite mount, Nicaragua. By José Gabriel Martínez-Fonseca Trees and moss are great at standing still for the camera. Birds are much trickier due to fast movement, prey awareness, and, well, flight. Add to that a dusky or completely dark setting, fast, erratic flight, elusive and hard-to-access locations (think caves, tree hollows, and rainforest canopies) and you’ve got a serious challenge.

05.13.26 By Paul Hormick & Wendy K. Probst Despite their bad reputation across much of the country, Indian Flying Foxes are considered sacred in parts of Tamil Nadu, Bihar, and Assam where they are even protected in sacred forests. By Abhijith Perambra photography As the moon rises over the noise and bustle of Delhi in north central India, the city comes to life.

04.30.26 By Annika Hipple and BCI Staff Brandon Hill Cave represents an irreplaceable multi-chamber cave system supporting six bat species, including the island’s only maternity colonies for Mexican greater funnel-eared bats (pictured with pups). By Tom Brown On the small Caribbean island of Utila, off the coast of Honduras, lies a bat cave of such significance that Bat Conservation International took a rare step: buying the land it sits on to ensure its protection in perpetuity.

04.22.26 By Steph Dodson When asked to “pick a bat” from the Bats of Western North America Field Guide and explain why they picked it, many people were drawn to Allen’s big-eared bat (pictured) with comments like: “ it looks funny,” “it looks like a teddy bear-hamster,” “it’s so fluffy,” and “it looks friendly.” By Martín Yair Cabrera Garrido Most days, I forget that bats are still misunderstood.

04.17.26 By Karin Akre Bat and cetacean (whales, dolphins, porpoises) echolocation is so similar that the underlying parallel evolution has targeted some of the same genes passed down from shared ancestors. By Isaac Kohane Do you ever think of bats as cetaceans of the sky? Bats and whales may have a few obvious differences (size, density of hair, torpor), but bat flight through air is just like swimming through water— except the fluid medium is way less dense.

Become A Bat Ambassador BCI is proud to offer a free, self-paced online training for people who would like to become Bat Ambassadors! In this course, you will learn about the natural history, ecology, and conservation of bats directly from BCI’s scientists. After taking the training, you will have a deeper understanding of and appreciation for these diverse and impressive keystone creatures, and you will feel confident advocating for them, making you a Bat Ambassador.

PUBLISHED BY: Spread across 3.28 million square kilometres, India is home to diverse habitats and 135 species of bats. Sadly, the country has fewer than 50 dedicated bat researchers. In an age of increasing threats coupled with the lack of trained personnel, there is a growing need to prioritise topics for the research and conservation of Indian bats. The last time India’s bat researchers convened to design conservation priorities was in 2002.

04.09.26 By Alyson Brokaw The author falling in love with a spectral bat while doing bat surveys in Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Mexico. I’ve been in the world of bat research for over 10 years. I wasn’t always a bat biologist. I always thought bats were cool and loved watching them chase insects in my backyard, but my real interest in bats didn’t pique until senior year of college. Before that, I thought I was a bird person.