North American bat research symposium gives Year of the Bat extra boost

Dear Year of the Bat friends and supporters,

Greetings from Denver International Airport, from where I am writing to you on my way back to Year of the Bat headquarters.

On short notice and in order to promote Year of the Bat, I attended the 40th annual symposium of the North American Society for Bat Research (NASBR) that took place this week in Denver, Colorado. And the response that Year of the Bat received there was overwhelmingly positive. In the coming days, we will be able to announce new Year of the Bat partners from both the government and NGO sides.

What I am very happy to announce already is that the NASBR Board of Directors agreed on the spot for NASBR to become an official Year of the Bat partner.

A heartfelt welcome to Year of the Bat, NASBR!

Other great news... in the presence of our first Honorary Ambassador, Dr. Merlin D. Tuttle, I had the great pleasure to announce on behalf of EUROBATS and my dear colleague, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary of UNEP/CMS, two new Honorary Ambassadors for Year of the Bat: Prof. Paul Racey (UK) and Dr. Rodrigo A. Medellin (Mexico), both outstanding and well known experts in international conservation and research.

Pictures and detailed information will soon be posted on the Year of the Bat website.

Stay tuned, dear readers, Year of the Bat keeps on rocking!

Thank you all for your continued support,

Andreas Streit

Executive Secretary

UNEP/EUROBATS

Fabulous and fluorescent bats! Global Year of the Bat partners on board

After a short hibernation break in the Netherlands, Germany and the US, the Year of the Bat team is back in Bonn and is delighted to announce our new campaign partners. We warmly welcome both the IUCN SSC Bat Specialist Group (BSG) and Lubee Bat Conservancy to the Year of the Bat's founding partnership circle. 

We are also thrilled to add several new national partners to the growing Year of the Bat global partner network:

• Nature & Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), Germany 
• French Mammal Society, France
• Drosera, Galicia
• SOMASPA, Panama 
• Chimbilako, Colombia

Enthusiasm for Year of the Bat is especially strong in Latin America, which raises the bar on bat conservation in the region. The Year of the Bat has in fact been receiving messages from governments, bat organizations and bat fans all around the globe... Argentina, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Mexico, Myanmar, South Africa, Pakistan, the US and Venezuela, among other hot spots! Not to mention Asian, Eurasian and European countries from Azerbaijan to Japan and Romania to the UK.

In other news, a few amazing looking new bat species were recently in the spotlight. Check out the Star Wars' "Yoda bat" of Papua New Guinea with its glowing yellow ears, eyes and nose and the 100 gram flaming orange bat discovered by a young boy in a Sri Lankan village. Be sure to click on the article links to see these unbelievable images. (And thanks to our CMS colleagues who brought these beauties to our attention.)

ANOTHER DELICIOUS BAT

 © Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International, www.batcon.org 

If you have some interesting bat news to report or discover a film star bat in your backyard, drop us a line at yearofthebat@eurobats.org!