Anthony Mould, of the Philippine Spotted Deer Conservation Foundation, recently made an important contribution to our understanding of cave bat populations in the Philippines by publishing data on bat populations recorded from 21 caves on Panay Island in the central Philippines. In addition to documenting 12 bat species occupying these caves, Mould and his colleagues identified and suggested that special conservation attention be given to a large maternity colony of Rousettus amplexicaudatus. This fruit bat, while not formally listed as threatened, may be declining rapidly across the archipelago due to hunting. Mould’s paper not only provides detailed written observations, it also includes sketches of each cave surveyed indicating the location of roosting bats. This paper provides a good model (and inspiration) for all of us sitting on cave bat survey data.
Mould, A. 2012. Cave bats of the central west coast and southern section of the Northwest Panay Peninsula, Panay Island, the Philippines. Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(11): 2993-3028. http://www.threatenedtaxa.org/ZooPrintJournal/2012/September/antony.htm
