Although bats account for almost a quarter of all mammal species, they are by far the least studied. Without an informed understanding of their varied requirements, we cannot adequately protect declining species and their habitats.

By contributing to BCI’s Student Scholarship Program, you can help build our body of knowledge about bats and the ecosystems they sustain while supporting young scientists at critical points in their careers. This year, 13 biologists received scholarships and are now conducting conservation-focused research in Colombia, Malaysia, the Comores Islands, Mexico, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Ecuador, the Philippines, the Slovak Republic, and the U.S. Despite the generous contributions of several underwriters, however, many similarly qualified applicants did not receive the funding needed for their studies.

Your financial support, in any amount, will help ensure the continuation and expansion of this important scholarship program. Some donors have chosen to support one, two, or as many as nine students, while others have endowed permanent, named scholarships. By investing in BCI’s Student Scholarship Program, you can give emerging conservationists the opportunity to uncover new truths about bats and their integral roles in world ecosystems.

For more information on how you or your company can contribute to this vital program, please contact:

Christy Corse, Development Officer
Bat Conservation International
P.O. Box 162603, Austin, TX 78716
(512) 327-9721
ccorse@batcon.org

By analyzing the feeding habits of Mexican free-tailed bats, Ya-fu Lee is documenting the essential economic and ecological roles these bats play when they eat costly crop pests such as the corn earworm moth.

Through her research, Catherine Sahley revealed the endangered Peruvian long-nosed bat to be the primary pollinator of the Weberbauer cactus, a key species upon which many desert birds and rodents of the western Andes Mountains rely.

Arnulfo Moreno studies guano samples from a greater long-nosed bat maternity site in northern Mexico to ascertain the link between the loss of agave plants and the bats’ population decline.