Project Pteropus - Winner of a 2015 BCI Grassroots Grant

Published on Sep 8, 2016

Flying foxes (Pteropus spp.) are under severe threat in Peninsular Malaysia due to hunting for food and medicine, and extermination as agricultural pests. As they are not charismatic species, there is little motivation to conserve and protect them. In order to facilitate efforts to improve their protection locally, there is an urgent need to gather quantitative evidence of their role as ecosystem service providers (e.g. pollination and seed dispersal) and to canvass human attitudes towards them.

Bat Conservation International is supporting Project Pteropus which aims to quantify the interactions between Pteropus hypomelanus, plants and people on a Malaysian offshore island called Tioman, which holds the last remaining permanent roosts of this locally threatened species.

BCI awarded Project Pteropus a Grassroots Grants in 2015 - learn more at: http://bit.ly/2cF60dA