Bats are reference, key and iconic species for this project.
Bats require special attention and protection, as they are very important for the ecosystem.
Eurobats - Agreement on the Conservation of Population of European Bats
Every year Europe holds an International bat night
Bats are one of Evolution’s Greatest Puzzles.
The bat scanner showed 3 different frequencies of bats in the project. Probably and by deduction these could be:
Myotis chiloensis (Chilean Myotis) - least concern status;
Histiotus montanus (Small big-eared brown bat) - least concern status, beneficial for forestry and livestock activities;
Lasiurus borealis (Cinnamon Red Bat) - least concern status, population trend - stable;
Histiotus magellanicus (Southern Big-eared Brown Bat) - least concern status.
Family Vespertilionidae: microbats, insectivorous aerial-hawking bats. Frequencies registered: 48, 49, 52, 55 and 58.
Frequency 55 - pipistrelle in Europe.
Improving wild bat habitat could prevent a new deadly disease outbreak
Bats are reference species of the project because:
Bats have been living on Earth for at least 50 millions years;
Bats need forests for life, in particular deciduous forest with dead wood content;
Bats use watercourses and wetlands for hunting;
Bats are stressed by light and are endangered by light pollution;
Bats are good pollinators;
Bats suffer from the scarcity of insects;
Bats suffer from pesticides;
Bat droppings are a very powerful natural nitrogen fertilizer;
Bats perceive the world in a very different way from our;
Bats have excellent spatial memory;
The low birth rate (1 per year) is compensated by an unusual longevity for an animal of this size (20-30 years);
Bats suffer from direct or close contact studies, or stressful and invasive tools;
Wind energy is really tough on bats, wind turbine blades kill hundreds of thousands every year;
Bats use a network of biotopes as habitat. Old trees provide good habitat for bats.
bats are the 2nd largest group of carnivores after rodents.
Threats: fewer insects to hunt (intensification of agriculture, use of pesticides, trivialisation of the landscape, urbanization); housing crisis (cutting of trees with cavities, deforestation, renovation of buildings); persecutions (walled up, spayed, killed); diseases, such as the fungal disease called white-nose syndrom.
Lessons from the host defences of bats, a unique viral reservoir
Los murciélagos en Chile se encuentran protegidos por la Ley y Reglamento de Caza del Servicio Agrícola Ganadero (SAG), que reconoce que la mayoría de estas especies son beneficiosas para la actividad silvoagropecuaria.
No capture of bats or any manipulation of wildlife is authorized in the project. Photos below, where bats are manipulated or taken with flash, have been taken from the site iNaturalist. They are good illustrations of destructive stress and disturbances induced to animals, and the dangers for wildlife of “citizens science”.
Wind energy is tough on bats.pdf
How snuggling close affects bats’ microbiome .pdf
Why not to evict bats from buildings
Drawings are from the book “Radiografía a los murciélagos de Chile”, Ed. Mauricio Canals, Pedro Cattan, 2008. From the same publication:
Rabia en murcielagos de Chile.pdf
Travel advice:
Bats Murciélagos
