To help determine the impacts of the pandemic virus on North American bat populations, authors experimentally challenged big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) with SARS‐CoV‐2 under BSL‐3 conditions. They inoculated the bats both oropharyngeally and nasally, and over the ensuing three weeks we measured infectivity, pathology, virus concentrations in tissues, oral and rectal virus excretion, virus transmission, and clinical signs of disease.

A carcass of a male Pipistrellus nathusii ringed in Pape Natural Park on the Baltic coast (South Latvia) in August 2015 was recovered in Pitillas' Lagoon Natural Reserve (N Spain) in March 2017. At 2224 km in SSW direction, this is the first documented bat migration between these countries and the longest documented distance of a bat movement. 

BCT pleased to announce that applications to the Kate Barlow award are now open – the closing date is 5pm GMT,  24th November 2020.

The Kate Barlow Award aims to encourage the next generation of bat researchers by providing a substantive contribution towards the research costs of a postgraduate student undertaking research that will benefit bat conservation, in honour of the late Dr Kate Barlow’s contribution to this field.

In Germany, wind parks cause a high number of casualties in bats, which can potentially lead to endangering the protected bat species.

Effective bat protection is, therefore, necessary for the implementation of an ecologically sustainable energy transition that considers the goals of both climate and biodiversity protection.