Science group reaches out to citizens for saving bat colonies across nation

PUNE: Many bat species found in India are classified in "threatened" categories by the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN), but, despite this, the winged mammals barely attract any initiatives for their conservation. Neither are funding agencies very forthcoming. A citizen science initiative is attempting to fill this gap by starting a countrywide study to map bat roosting sites.

"In my experience, I have found that there is very little attention paid to bats. Even getting funds to research bats is very difficult as most funding agencies tend to prefer projects on more conventionally charismatic species such as large mammals or birds. This is why we would like to involve as many people as we can," said Rahul Prabhukhanolkar, a member of the executive team of the Indian Bat Research Unit (IBRU) that has launched the initiative.

If research is conducted, it could yield fascinating results. For instance, for a long time it was believed that the Wroughton's free-tailed bat was only found in one cave near Belgaum. It was the only known roosting location in the world, but a few years ago a dead specimen was found in Cambodia. Then, just last year a colony of the bats was found in Meghalaya, he said.

Prabhukhanolkar said that not only is there tremendous species diversity among bats (there are 123 bat species in South Asia alone), but there is also great diversity in their distribution. Bat roosting sites can be in natural caves, man-made caves, old forts, temples and buildings and trees.

Given the vast geographical expanse, lack of funding and low priority for conservation of lesser mammals, it is practically impossible for a single individual or organization to assess the current status of bat diversity and roosting sites, he said.

"The last time a thorough survey was carried out was in the late 1950s and we wanted to address this lacuna," he said, adding that he hoped that the community of nature lovers and trekkers will pitch in.

"If you come across a bat colony on a trip, all you need to do is click a photograph on your mobile phone if possible. After that you can log on to our website, enter the details of the bat sighting and upload a photograph," Prabhukhanolkar said.



If the photograph is clear enough, experts will try to identify the bat species. Else the network of IBRU experts may even travel to the site for a survey, he added.

"Surveys of sites that are known bat colonies have already started in Aurangabad, Kolhapur and Sindhudurg districts. Now the project has moved to cover Pune, Mumbai and Nashik," he said.

On Friday, a workshop was organized in Pune to disseminate information about bats, their ecological importance as well as acquaint the people who attended with the process of documenting bats in the field.