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News articles on Bats

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Mongabay.com news articles on bats in blog format. Updated regularly.

Fruit bats frequent clay-licks in the Amazon rainforest
(7/14/2008) In the Peru new research finds that female fruit bats are frequent visitors to clay-licks.


Rainforest recovery after deforestation can be enhanced by artificial bat houses
(4/23/2008) "Bat boxes" could help in the recovery of tropical rainforest after deforestation, reports research described in New Scientist Magazine.


Fruit-eating bats ingest dirt to counter toxic plant compounds
(4/23/2008) Pregnant and lactating frugivorous bats ingest dirt in order to detoxify plant compounds in the fruit they eat, report researchers writing in the journal PLoS ONE.


Bats protect crops from insects
(4/4/2008) Bats eat as many insects at night as birds do during the day, according to research published in the journal Science.


Bats eat as many insects as birds
(4/3/2008) Bats eat as many insects at night as birds do during the day, according to research published in the journal Science.


Wind power takes a toll on migratory bats
(9/12/2007) The danger of wind turbines to birds has long been known and well documented. Most recently several studies and articles have attempted to place the level of bird casualties in perspective: "More birds killed by cats than wind turbines". But lesser known--and lesser studied--is the effect wind turbines have on bat populations. Collisions between groups of bats and wind turbines have been observed at numerous turbines in America, Australia, and Europe. While these fatalities, sometimes killing hundreds of bats, have been seen for years, their cause remains unknown.


Saving beautiful - and ugly - species from extinction
(8/30/2007) Allow me to wax poetic about the world's newest wildlife organization, EDGE. I must admit I'm a little in love. This singular organization was founded in January as a part of the London Zoological Society. Its basic tenants remain similar to other endangered species programs: survey populations, set up conservation programs, work with local governments and communities to ensure protection. However, what is unique about EDGE is not their approach to saving species, but rather the species they choose to focus their efforts on. This year they have selected ten mammalian species: the Yangztee River Dolphin, Attenborough's Long-Beaked Echidna, Hispaniolan Solenodon, Bactarian Camel, Pygmy Hippopotamus, Slender Loris, Hirola, Golden-rumped Elephant Shrew, Bumblebee Bat, and the Long-eared Jerboa.


Clearing rainforest for cattle pasture drives surge in vampires
(8/15/2007) A new study confirms that vampire bats are thriving due to the clearing of rainforest for cattle pasture in Costa Rica. Instead of having to seek out scarce wildlife in the forest, vampire bats now prey on cattle kept in high densities on ranches.


Nectar feeding bats are powered by pure sugar
(8/6/2007) Nectar-feeding bats are particularly vulnerable to environmental change due to their high-energy dietary requirements, reports a new study published in the British Ecological Society's journal Functional Ecology.


Fruit bats crave sugar to overcome 'hangover'
(4/1/2007) Many of us will be familiar with cravings for sweet food, after having overindulged in alcohol the night before. It appears that Egyptian fruit bats also crave particular types of sugar to reduce the effects of ethanol toxicity.


15 'new' bird species revealed in North America
(2/18/2007) DNA testing has revealed 15 'new' species of birds in North America and six 'new' species of bats from the South American country of Guyana, according to a paper appearing in the British journal Molecular Ecology Notes.


Rare giant bat eats night-flying birds
(2/13/2007) A new study published in PLoS ONE, an open online journal, reports that nocturnally migrating songbirds are preyed upon by giant bats. The findings go against the belief that night-flying birds lacked predators.


Audible warfare: how moths avoid bats
(12/18/2006) A new study published in Current Biology suggests bats and moths may be engaged in evolutionary warfare when it comes to their sense of hearing.


Animal pollinators responsible for 35 percent of world food crop
(10/25/2006) A new study calculates that 35 percent of the world's crop production is dependent on pollinators, like bats, bees, and birds. The research suggests that biodiversity loss could directly impact global food crops.


Bats Hunt Using Guided Missile Strategy
(5/4/2006) When it comes to rocket science, it looks like bats had it worked out before the scientists did. A new University of Maryland study finds that echolocating bats use a strategy to track and catch erratically moving insects that is much like the system used by some guided missiles to intercept evasive targets and different from the way humans and some animals track moving objects.


Sex vs. Intelligence: Bigger balls mean smaller brain
(12/13/2005) In a recent study of bats, Scott Pitnick, professor of biology at Syracuse University, found that testis size is negatively correlated with brain size. In other words, the bigger the balls of a bat species, the smaller its brain.


Vampires kill 23 in Brazil, deforestation blamed
(11/7/2005) Rabid vampire bats killed 23 people and attacked more than 1,000 Brazilian officials confirmed last week. The bats have been displaced from their normal rain forest environment by worsening deforestation in the region. In an attempt to slow deaths, health agencies have treated 1,350 people with anti-rabies medication in the past two months.


Now identified as likely origin of SARS; will bats be killed in China?
(9/29/2005) The likely source of the respiratory disease SARS is the horseshoe bat, a new study in the journal Science suggests. Researchers found a virus closely related to the SARS coronavirus in bats from three regions of China. The 2003 SARS outbreak killed 770 people and caused billions in economic damaged.


Birds and Bats Responsible for Seed Dispersal in Tropical Forests
(9/27/2005) Restoring the rich diversity of trees that once characterized expansive tracts of tropical rainforest gets a helping hand from native birds and bats. Just how big a role these winged gardeners play is a question ecologists from the University of Illinois at Chicago and several Latin American universities are about to find out by setting up essentially a living laboratory in Mexico's gulf coast state of Veracruz.


Organic farming benefits wildlife over conventional agriculture says study
(8/3/2005) In the largest and most comprehensive study of organic farming to date, published today in the Royal Society Journal, Biology Letters, scientists from leading UK institutions show conclusively that organic farms provide greater benefits for a range of wildlife including wild flowers, beetles, spiders, birds and bats than their conventional counterparts.


Progress made in fighting deadly virus spread by pigs and bats
(7/6/2005) According to two new reports in Nature and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists have made an important breakthrough in the effort to fight the deadly Nipah virus which killed more than 100 people in 1999. The outbreak, which also resulted in the culling in 1 million pigs across Malaysia, was later traced to fruit bats.


Rainforest Canopy - Bats
(3/1/2005) The most abundant mammals in the rainforest are not large ground-dwelling creatures, but bats. The tropics have the greatest variety of bats, and accordingly, the most diverse mammalian group of the tropical rainforest is bats, making up over 50 percent of mammal species. Bats range in size from the giant flying foxes, with wingspans of six feet (1.8 m), to the tiny bumblebee bat of Thailand, the world's smallest mammal, weighing less than an American penny. Equally diverse are the feeding habits of tropical bats, which include fruit, nectar, blood, and carnivorous feeders; and the places bats choose for shelter..



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