ISLAND FLYING FOX GLOBAL CONSERVATION
The IBRG has been actively promoting the conservation of flying foxes (i.e. fruit bats of the genus Pteropus) worldwide. This endeavor was epitomized recently by our involvement in the fight against the repeated culls of the Mauritius flying fox Pteropus niger (see picture below by Jacques de Spéville). The IBRG, through scientific publications and media interventions, has been contributing to reviewing the status of Pteropus bats on islands and has been advocating for science-based management of flying fox colonies.
Together with colleagues Vincent Florens (University of Mauritius) and Tigga Kingston (Texas Tech., USA), we have published in 2017 an opinionated view on the conservation status of island Pteropus wordwide in which we demonstrated an alarming worldwide decline in this group, warned against its effect on the health of insular ecosystems, and have called for effective conservation actions to be taken immediately. This publication can be accessed from Science.
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Vincenot C.E., Florens F.B.V., Kingston T. Can we protect island flying foxes? Science, Volume 355, Issue 6332, Pages 1368–1370, March 2017
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We also further developed this point in an outreach paper jointly with Claudia Baider (University of Mauritius) as well as in numerous interviews to the press and radio broadcasters.
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Electronic copies of these academic works can be provided to interested readers upon request.
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