Bat conservation is struggling for a toehold in Kenya. Most people know very little about bats, have no sense at all of their value and often fear them as carriers of ghosts and evil spirits. Bat populations are collapsing in many parts of the country as agriculture, urban development and uncontrolled tourism threatens their cave and tree roosts...more

The Economist, the venerable, London-based newspaper with a worldwide circulation, has made a strong pitch for ending the misguided persecution of bats. And it gave a special nod to the economic value of the Mexican free-tailed bats that eat countless insect pests in Texas. “Most of the world’s 1,100 species of bats are benign – helpful, even – to humans and especially to farmers,” the newspaper said. ...more

The rusting, round water tank in the Arizona high country is barely 12 feet across and 2 feet deep, and the water is green with algae. But each night, a near-constant stream of bats – sometimes approaching one per second – swoops smoothly down to the water’s surface to sip from this vital resource.

Water is scarce in much of the American West, and natural water holes have been disappearing for 150 years in the face of expanding irrigation, dams and urban/suburban development...more