Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada
Samira Mubareka
Department of Microbiology and Division of Infectious Diseases, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Research Institute, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Room B1 03, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada
Susan M. Tsang
Department of Mammalogy, Division of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA Mammalogy Section, National Museum of the Philippines, 1000 Manila, Philippines
Nancy B. Simmons
Department of Mammalogy, Division of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA
Daniel J. Becker
Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
Bats are very diverse, including over 1400 species (Simmons and Cirranello 2020), meaning that one in every five living mammal species is a bat. These remarkable animals include species living on every continent except Antarctica. Many of them perform essential ecosystem services including consuming large quantities of insects, dispersing seeds, and pollinating flowers of numerous tropical and subtropical plants including many of economic importance (e.g., durian in southeast Asia, agaves used to make tequila in North America; Kunz et al. 2011). Lamentably, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List (2020) identifies 77 species of bats as Endangered. Most bats are small mammals with low rates of reproduction (typically one or two young per year) and exceptionally long lifespans, with some individuals living over 40 years in the wild (Munshi-South and Wilkinson 2010).
