Woodland Bat Species Takes it to the Tropics

A woodland bat species, better known for flying in temperate forests, has taken to the tropics, flying thousands of miles from its known range to sweat it out in southern India's rainforest, according to a new study.

Researchers were surprised to find the Eastern Barbastelle bat, a tiny, insect eating bat with distinctive silky black fur and large ears, in India's southern Western Ghats. They compare it to finding a red squirrel in the rainforest.

"This underlines how much we still have to learn about the distribution and ecology of bats, not just in India but worldwide," lead researcher Claire Wordley of the University of Leeds said in a statement.

Wordley and her colleagues, along with researchers from the National Centre for Biological Sciences in India and the Nature Conservation Foundation of India, identified the out-of-place bat using its echolocation sounds. Bats use these echolocation calls to navigate and hunt, and studying the species this way allows researchers to monitor their population numbers without interfering in their daily lives. Also, given that visual monitoring in the fast-moving, nocturnal world of the Eastern Barbastelle, this technique can yield more bat records compared to other methods.

During the study, published in the journal Acta Chiropterologica, they identified and recorded the calls of 15 bat species in the Western Ghat mountains, one of the most biodiversity-rich locations on Earth. Not only does this interesting findings show that these particular bats may enjoy the sweltering heat, but it also can aid in conservation efforts.

"The Eastern Barbastelle is not common in any of its range and is thought to be threatened by deforestation and war in many places," Wordley added. "Finding it in parts of South India may be important to conservation of the species."

And considering that about a quarter of bat species in the world are endangered, the researchers' unique monitoring approach may prove useful for tracking and protecting other populations as well.