Seychelles sheath-tailed bat Coleura seychellensis - the rarest bat in the world
The Seychelles sheath-tailed bat is a Critically Endangered species now restricted to just two of the Seychelles islands. It was the 25th EDGE (Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered) species listed by the Zoological Society of London and is a trigger species for the Alliance For Zero Extinction. In 2012 it was highlighted by the Bat Specialist Group as one of the species most likely to become extinct in the near future.
Conservation of the Seychelles sheath-tailed bat was initiated by the Nature Protection Trust of Seychelles in 1997 when I started studying its ecology and status. The research led us to implement conservation management which carried on from 1997 until 2010. This active conservation work saw the population we managed on Silhouette rise from 18 bats to a maximum of 40 and the establihment of a new roost. These low figures are an indication of the precarious status of this bat. The ecology and the conservation of the species was described in a paper in 2011.
Publications on the Seychelles sheath-tailed bat:
