Bats: Chiroptera

Bat populations are in decline in the United States and throughout the world. In the United States, out of forty-five bat species, six are federally endangered, facing an extremely high risk of extinction, dying out, or threatened, close to facing the risk of extinction. Twenty species are categorized as being of special concern by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) includes 521 bats on its Red List of Threatened Species. Twenty-nine are Critically Endangered, facing an extremely high risk of extinction; thirty-seven are Endangered, facing a very high risk of extinction; 173 are Vulnerable, facing a high risk of extinction. The rest on the list are not currently threatened, but could become so, or there is not enough information about the bats to know how threatened they are.

With few natural predators, the primary reason for declining bat populations is directly and indirectly related to humans. Pesticides on plants have reduced insect populations, the food supply for many bats. Occasionally, people hunt bats for food, but far more harmful to bats is the destruction of their natural areas and living spaces. Deforestation, the clearing of trees for agriculture or people, decreases their food supply and habitats.

People have also killed colonies of bats out of fear or ignorance. In Central America, where vampire bats can be a problem for livestock, locals find bat caves and blow them up, killing entire colonies whether they are colonies of vampire bats or not. In the United States, destroying bat habitats such as mines have killed them and any that remain are left without protection.