Welcome to Year of the Bat 2011 - 2012

Year of the Bat is sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and the Agreement on the Conservation of Populations of European Bats (EUROBATS). Please join us today in promoting bat conservation, research and education around the globe.



Wednesday, September 22, 2010

‘Year of the Bat’ gives wings to world’s only flying mammals

The Year of the Bat 2011-2012 campaign has kicked off today in Prague!
Backed by the United Nations Environment Programme, the campaign is led by the UN’s Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and the Agreement on the Conservation of Populations of European Bats (EUROBATS).  
Year of the Bat will draw attention to the world’s 1100 bat species – around half of which are currently at risk. 
Charismatic animals like gorillas, tigers and elephants are often in the public eye. But many people are blind to the facts about bats. Bats can be beautiful, too, as the campaign will demonstrate during its two-year celebration.
Performing eco-services such as pollination, seed dispersal and insect control, mythical bats fly through the night almost everywhere on Earth.
Bats help sustain temperate forests throughout the world. They also replenish our treasured tropical rainforests. Aside from the forest, you will find bats in deserts, cities, mountains and seasides - everywhere but the Arctic and Antarctic, in fact.
Did you know that many delicious fruits and vegetables would not exist without bats? The next time you bite into a banana, peach, avocado, mango or fig, please thank the small and unappreciated bat who scattered the seeds or fertilized these flowering plants.

 
© Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International, www.batcon.org
The Year of the Bat will promote bat conservation, research and education, with a special focus on biodiversity and the ecological benefits that bats provide. 
To learn more, visit the Year of the Bat website, http://yearofthebat.org/ - and check back soon for more fun facts about bats!
 
 

3 comments:

  1. I would love to read your blog, but I cannot read it due to the colors of the words blending into the colors of the background. Green text and gray text are especially difficult to read on your green background photo. Please consider removing the background photo. As lovely as it is, I would prefer to read what you have to say! Thank you, and have a Happy New Year (of the Bat!)

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  2. Thank you for your feedback and your enthusiasm. We are redesigning our blog and by February the new blog will be more user-friendly!

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  3. Hi, I'm from Portugal and here we don´t have frugivore bats, but I’m teach a matter about the importance of bats in the habitat balance and I'm looking for a photo to illustrate the bat work in dissemination of seed and I think this photo is perfect. I ask you how can I get permission to use this photo?
    Please you can e-mail me in myotisescalerai@gmail.com
    Thank you very much!

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