At dusk above Kenya’s Three Sisters Caves, researchers stretch nearly invisible nets across the hillsides and wait for bats to emerge. When a bat flies into a net, David Wechuli’s team carefully frees it, then measures its body, weight and wings. The work offers a closer look at animals that are common around the world but still poorly understood.
Bat Week, held worldwide from Oct. 24 to 31, 2026, shines a light on these mammals and the roles they play in nature. Bats make up 20% of all mammal species and live on every continent except Antarctica. They help control mosquitoes, pollinate plants and spread seeds. Yet gaps in research make it harder to know how well different bat populations are doing and what they need to survive.
India’s first nationwide assessment of bats counted 135 known species. Seven are listed as threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, which tracks species at risk. But the status of 35 species is unknown because they are data deficient or not listed. That leaves a large part of the country’s bat life without a clear picture of its conservation needs.
Rohit Chakravarty, a co-author of the assessment and India program manager for the nonprofit Bat Conservation International, said there are fewer than 50 dedicated bat researchers in the country. He called for research to focus on priority topics, species and regions. The findings show why simply knowing how many species exist is not enough: conservation workers also need reliable information about where bats live and how they are faring.
In New Zealand, a community project is bringing people into that research. The country’s only known native land mammals today are two bat species: the New Zealand long-tailed bat and the New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat. A third, the New Zealand greater short-tailed bat, has not been recorded since 1967 and is likely extinct. Finding Franklin Bats is surveying bats while raising awareness among rural landowners and communities. More than 180 volunteers are involved, alongside staff that include six people from local Indigenous communities.
The Kenya research team is also studying how bats live and what part they play in local ecosystems, while examining how human activity is changing their habitats. Careful measurements from captured bats can help researchers build a stronger understanding of those questions. In Pennsylvania, Steph Stronsick, founder of Pennsylvania Bat Rescue, works to nurse sick bats back to health and teaches others why the animals matter.
Together, these efforts show that bat conservation can take many forms: field research, community surveys, rescue and education. The work is especially useful where basic information is still missing. With more people taking part and more research focused on overlooked species and places, the world can make better-informed choices about protecting mammals that quietly support ecosystems across the globe.