Venezuelan researchers and authorities have created a working group to develop initiatives for the protection of the country’s 165 species of bats, whose populations are threatened by the degradation of their natural habitats. “The forests are their habitat and source of food, since the majority are fructivores and insectivores; caves provide shelter for entire populations, since they are very gregarious; and the abuse of insecticides in agriculture destroys their sources of food and affects the health of humans as well,” biologist Jafet Nassar of the state-run Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research told Tierramérica.

Venezuelan researchers have joined the Latin American Network for Bat Conservation, which has declared 2011 as the international year of bat protection.