**Preface XI**


Preface

tors are owls and nightjars.

Bats are the only mammals capable of self-powered flight and constitute more than 20% of living mammal species, and up to 110 bat species may coexist in the same ecological com‐ munities, a number that far exceeds that of any other mammalian group [1]. Bats diversified in the Early Eocene in response to an increase in prey diversity, and Eocene bat fossils have been found on most continents leaving the geographic origin a source of debate [1]. Despite their taxonomic and ecological diversity, modern bats (Order: Chiroptera) are almost exclu‐ sively nocturnal. The only other vertebrates that exploit niches for nocturnal flying preda‐

My personal interest and experience with the world of bats follow closely my owl studies, which have taken me so far to 130 countries in all continents. When sleeping in a hammock on the roof of our research boat in the Colombian jungle, I was a little worried by the over‐ head circulating bats because in this area vampire bats are frequent visitors. However, I nev‐

When searching for one of the rarest owls in the world, the Seychelles scops owl (*Otus insu‐ laris*), I saw a lot of Seychelles fruit bats (*Pteropus seychellensis*). These owls have a wing span of up to 1.7 m and weigh up to 900 g [2], making them to look like flying dogs and are more

When living in Abidjan, I often witnessed the invasion of up to 1 million straw-coloured fruit bats (*Eidolon helvum*) coming to harvest the city's fruit trees. It has been estimated that 3 million people have learned not only how to live with these creatures, but also how to hunt them, cook them in sweat stews and put them to use in West African voodoo ceremonies [3]. If one day I am able to return to Zambia, there is one more thing I must witness: the largest *Eidolon helvum* invasion in Africa. Over 10 million bats descend for 90 days from late Octo‐ ber to mid-December into a small swamp forest in Kasanga National Park [4]. This is said to be the largest mammal migration on earth but is obviously only half of that compared to the Mexican free-tailed bat (*Tadarida brasiliensis*) migration in the New World! Some 20 million

Bats have a poor image for the public at large. Partly because bats spend all day tucked away in places where they can't really be seen and come out at night and do strange things in strange ways. So, it is difficult for people to understand how they work and what they are

We have eight chapters on bats covering countries such as Algeria, Bulgaria, France, Paki‐ stan, Poland, the UK and the USA and subjects ranging from acoustic monitoring of bat spe‐ cies for distribution and conservation purposes to bat-borne and bat-carried diseases, which

er had any problem because of the deplorable eating habits of these bats!

scary in the dark forest than the small vampire bats of South America.

bats from San Antonio, Texas, move every year to winter in Mexico [5].

doing. This book aims to improve the public image of the bat.
