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Save the Bumblebee Bat from Extinction!
Final signature count: 9,752
9,752 signatures toward our 30,000 goal
Sponsor: The Rainforest Site
The smallest bat in the world is at high risk because of human activity. Take a stand and save this species from extinction!
The bumblebee bat, also known as Kitti’s hog-nosed bat, is the smallest bat in the world, and has the smallest skull size of any mammal on earth1.
The bumblebee bat weighs on average less than .07 ounces and on 1.14 inches long2, but the tiny species is at heightened risk from climate change and habitat loss3.
The bumblebee bat is now at high risk because of human activity that has destroyed its critical nesting areas4.
The IUCN, the international body which monitors population changes of species, listed the bat as endangered for 12 years until 2008, when it was downlisted to “Vulnerable” after new populations in Thailand and Myanmar were discovered5.
Surveys taken between 1997 and 2008 counted around 10,000 bats in 44 caves in western Thailand and five caves in Myanmar4. A 2009 study indicates that the Thai population of bumblebee bats was estimated at around 45,000 individuals, but very fragile, and restricted to a single province6.
However, the total population of bumblebee bats in Myanmar is still unclear, as security issues prevent researchers from conducting more focused studies. In Thailand, the bumblebee bat population is fragile, and restricted to a single province6.
The only chance this mammal has is if governments improve the protection and management of the bats’ roosting caves, and increase protection for other habitats the species relies on, including foraging areas. These changes could immediately be implemented in Thailand, averting the extinction of the smallest bat on the planet8!
We have the insight to save one of the tiniest mammals on Earth. All we have to do is put this plan for conservation in action.
We must work quickly before the bumblebee bat is lost forever. Help us encourage the Thai government to protect the bumblebee bat before it is too late!
Sign now to tell Thailand’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment work to increase conservation efforts of the bumblebee bat and protect the species from extinction!
