The state government of Queensland, Australia, is banning the shooting of all flying foxes beginning September 1. And that, says Lawrence Pope, president of Victorian Advocates for Animals, is “a fabulous outcome for Australian conservation.” Australian fruit growers have been killing flying foxes, which many blame for crop losses, for generations. Conservationists...more

Batman’s back and more popular than ever as The Dark Knight movie breaks a slew of box-office records. Bats, it turns out, have a lot in common with the Caped Crusader who stole their name, David Mizejewski writes in the National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife & Weather newsletter. Batman, according to Mizejewski, “is a good guy faced with intense obstacles that sometimes make him an enemy in the...more

The plains of northeastern Ukraine are alive with bats during the summer months. But for wintertime, the landscape offers no natural caves or abandoned underground mines where non-migratory species can hibernate. Where, then, are these bats spending their winters. Anton Vlaschenko, a graduate student at Kharkov National University in Ukraine, decided to find out, with the help of a Bat Conservation International Student Research Scholarship...more