Bonneted Bats

Following a court-ordered agreement, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated more than 1.1 million acres of critical habitat for the endangered Florida bonneted bat. The indigenous bat faces devastating habitat loss from sea-level rise and destructive development.

For a second time a trio of South Florida environmental agencies are planning to sue the federal Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to designate a 10.5-million-acre safe haven for the endangered Florida bonneted bat. The creature is the largest bat in the state and the rarest one in the nation. The mammal it is at grave risk of being wiped out by a changing planet. “Florida bonneted bats cannot survive the onslaught of sea-level rise, development and pesticide use in South Florida unless their habitat is protected,” Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said Monday.

Bats have been in the news in recent years in connection to deadly epidemics including Ebola and COVID-19, yet scientists are discovering evidence that bats may hold a key to longer and healthier lives.

The bat maternity season is approaching in Southwest Florida, and that means homeowners who are the unwitting hosts to a bat roost will have to wait until…

It’s illegal for Floridians to remove any bats roosting in their homes beginning April 15. Bats start having their pups this month, and the state says you…

Scientists are trying to learn more about a rare bat roost recently discovered in Immokalee. It’s rare because it belongs to the endangered bonneted bat,…