Jonathan Alonzo
Protecting bats is important for our health and the health of our planet
Bats play a vital role in keeping us healthy, restoring our natural ecosystems, and supporting human economies around the world. Studying and monitoring bats in their natural habitats allows researchers to better understand the ability of many bat species to tolerate viruses. These research efforts may be key to the next breakthrough vaccine or treatment against shared viruses.
Importantly, insect-eating bats protect crops around the world and help minimize the need for pesticides. Nectar-seeking bats are also essential, as pollinators, for maintaining food supplies. And fruit-eating bats are the world’s foremost seed-dispersers, distributing more seeds than any other fruit-eating bird or mammal, which plays a critical role in regenerating forests, meadows, deserts, and other landscapes.
Bat Facts
- 200+
- Bats species are considered threatened by the IUCN
- 67
- plant families rely on bats as their major or exclusive pollinators
- $23B
- and more, in agricultural and human health savings for the planet every year
- 3000+
- species of plants rely on bats for seed dispersal, including pioneer plant species

What we learned from the global COVID-19 Pandemic
During the height of the During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Winifred Frick, BCI’s Chief Scientist, discussed zoonotic spillover and why bats are important in the world and for public health.
Downloadable Resources
Fact Sheets
In the News
Setting the Terms for Zoonotic Diseases: Effective Communication for Research, Conservation, and Public Policy
Jul. 13, 2021, MDPI
Message from our Executive Director on the World Health Organization’s Report on the Origins of COVID-19
Mar. 30, 2021, Bat Conservation International
The Fate of Bats is Hanging in the Balance. That Could Have Very Real Consequences for Us
Mar. 17, 2021, PBS News Hour
The Virus, the Bats and Us
Dec. 11, 2020, NY Times
COVID: Why bats are not to blame, say scientists
Oct. 12, 2020, BBC News
What bats can teach us about developing immunity to COVID-19
Sept. 11, 2020, LA Times
Deadly Diseases from Wildlife Thrive When Nature is Destroyed, Study Finds
Aug. 5, 2020, The Guardian
Ecology and Economics for Pandemic Prevention
July 24, 2020, Science
How Bats Beat Coronaviruses Could Hold the Key to Tackling COVID-19 Pandemic
July 24, 2020, Newsweek
Bats carry coronaviruses but don’t get sick. Could their secret help us fight COVID-19?
June 27, 2020: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Bats and COVID-19 @19:30
June 26, 2020: BBC
Bats are immune to coronaviruses, so scientists are looking at what we can learn from them
June 23, 2020: Health 24
Why Bats Are Ecological Superheroes
June 20, 2020: Mercola
Bats: The Mystery Behind COVID-19
June 9, 2020: CNN
Full Story: The connection between bats and Coronavirus: Wildlife is not to blame
May 21, 2020: The Invisible Mammal
How Bats Might Have Tamed the Coronavirus
May 10, 2020: The Atlantic
A New Virus Could Yet Spread From Animals To Humans
April 22, 2020: Forbes
Don’t Blame Bats for COVID-19
March 29, 2020: Business Mirror
From Bats to Human Lungs, the Evolution of a Coronavirus
March 27, 2020: The New Yorker
Bats are a possible source of the coronavirus — but humans are to blame for the spread of the disease
March 24, 2020: Discover Magazine