‘Senseless’ U.S. trinket trade threatens distinctive Asian bat, study shows (2024)

A growing trend for macabre dead bat ornaments sold via online merchants, many of them based in the United States, is driving unsustainable harvesting from the wild. A new study reveals that small bats from Asia are increasingly being taken from the wild and killed for the burgeoning trade.

A team of researchers from the bat trading group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, scrutinized major e-commerce websites, such as Amazon, eBay and Etsy, over a three-month period in 2022. They identified 856 digital listings of dead bat products, including taxidermy specimens mounted in wall frames, jars and necklaces. The researchers published their findings in the European Journal of Wildlife Research.

At particular risk is the painted woolly bat (Kerivoula picta), a vividly colored insectivorous species sporting a shock of bright-orange fur and strikingly marked black and orange wings. The species, which inhabits tropical and subtropical forests from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka in the west, east to southern China and most of Southeast Asia, comprised one-quarter of all listings, some 62% of which were sold by U.S.-based vendors.

Scientists have long warned that consumer interest in bat-themed ornaments, such as taxidermy wall decorations, could spark population declines among the diminutive but ecologically indispensable flying mammals. Insectivorous and nectivorous bats have been shown to sustain crucial pest-control, pollination and nutrient-cycling services in the forest ecosystems in which they live, including adding value to commercially viable crops.

However, despite their importance, more than one-third of the world’s bat species assessed by the IUCN are either threatened with extinction or their vulnerability is unknown because of a lack of data. In Southeast Asia, research has shown the region risks losing 23% of its bat species by 2100.

The researchers say the intensity of the trade in painted woolly bats is likely unsustainable due to its low population density and slow life cycle. Unlike many other small bats, woolly bats don’t roost in caves in large groups, but live alone or as pairs in forests and fields. Moreover, females give birth to a single offspring each breeding cycle, so it takes a long time for populations to recover the loss of individuals.

“This is one of those species that really should not be taken out of the wild at all,” said Chris Shepherd, a co-author of the study and executive director of Monitor Conservation Research Society, a nonprofit dedicated to lesser-known species targeted for the wildlife trade. “The trade in bats for décor purposes really needs to be seen for what it is — a senseless and selfish abuse of wildlife,” he added. “This is a trade that is not socially acceptable, and [is] in many cases illegal.”

In addition to vendors and consumers based in the U.S., the latest IUCN assessment of the species cites sales in Australia, China, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Taiwan and the U.K.

Shepherd said he and his colleagues are certain that all the dead bats identified in the trade were taken from the wild, often illegally, since insectivorous bats are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity.

Few of the painted woolly bat’s range countries afford them legal protection. And of those that do, very few grant them priority conservation status or clearly define rules on wild harvesting — a situation consistent with most insect-eating bats, according to Shepherd. “Small bat species are rarely adequately protected in their range countries and are not [listed] on CITES, so countries are poorly equipped to prevent the trade,” he said. “If demand soars, these species could be wiped out quite quickly.”

The latest conservation assessment of the global painted woolly bat population in 2019 elevated its status from least concern to near threatened on the IUCN Red List. However, it’s not included in the appendices of CITES, the global treaty to protect wildlife from harmful international trade, and therefore isn’t subject to any international trade regulation.

Given the new evidence of the scale of threat posed by the online ornamental trade, Shepherd said painted woolly bats “really should” be regulated under CITES rules. This would not only put in place a mechanism to control international trade, he added, but would also allow for monitoring of the trade to gauge its impact on wild populations.

Dianne DuBois a research scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, an organization that in May urged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to include painted woolly bats under the Endangered Species Act, said action within consumer countries is vital. “We have a real chance to save these striking little bats before a frivolous décor trend picks up too much steam and pushes them closer to becoming endangered,” she said. “We need the U.S. government to act quickly.”

Carolyn Cowan is a staff writer for Mongabay. Follow her on 𝕏, @CarolynCowan11.

Banner image: A painted woolly bat roosts under a leaf in Indonesia. Image by Abu Hamas via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA 4.0).

Citations:

Coleman, J. L., Randhawa, N., Huang, J. C., Kingston, T., Lee, B. P., O’Keefe, J. M., … Shepherd, C. R. (2024). Dying for décor: Quantifying the online, ornamental trade in a distinctive bat species, Kerivoula picta. European Journal of Wildlife Research, 70(4). doi:10.1007/s10344-024-01829-9

Lane, D. J., Kingston, T., & Lee, B. P. (2006). Dramatic decline in bat species richness in Singapore, with implications for Southeast Asia. Biological Conservation, 131(4), 584-593. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2006.03.005

Maas, B., Clough, Y., & Tscharntke, T. (2013). Bats and birds increase crop yield in tropical agroforestry landscapes. Ecology Letters, 16(12), 1480-1487. doi:10.1111/ele.12194

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