A major new effort is underway to survey one of the world’s most endangered bat species on the brink of extinction.

Image of Livingstone's fruit bat by Tim Flach

Field biologists and researchers from Bristol Zoo Gardens and Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (Durrell) have joined forces to monitor the roost sites of Livingstone’s fruit bats as it is feared that the rapid clearance of the bats’ forest habitat is increasing the chances of the species being lost forever.

There are thought to be less than 1,000 of these giant, red-eyed bats left in the wild on their native islands of Anjouan and Moheli – in the Comoros archipelago, off the south-east coast of Africa.

Now the teams are carrying out the most thorough count of the species ever done, in a bid to assess the current population status and identify threats to the species’ survival.

With help from local experts, the teams will traverse the bats’ entire range, scaling mountains and travelling to the most inaccessible areas of the islands, to count bats in all their known treetop roost sites.

The two organisations are partners in a conservation project working with local communities to protect the forest areas which are vital to the bats’ survival.

Neil Maddison, Head of Conservation Programmes at Bristol Zoo Gardens, explains the importance of monitoring the bats in the wild: “These surveys are key to conserving these magnificent bats, and while they have been done some years ago, they have never been done with this level of intensity.”

He added: “The last survey of Livingstone’s fruit bat was carried out in 2005 by a local organisation, producing an estimate of 1,200 individuals. With on-going pressure on roost sites, the species was placed on the IUCN’s red list as ‘Endangered’. The current survey will visit all known sites throughout the species’ range to produce a comprehensive and up-to-date estimate, and to identify trends in the population.”

Field ecologist, Bronwen Daniel, from Durrell, who is leading the mission, said: “The bats gather in communal roosts in large trees, choosing the most inaccessible sites on steep slopes as they don’t like disturbance. This makes surveying them a real challenge. Yet even at the most remote roosts we often find crops planted underneath the trees; there’s so much pressure for agricultural land that farmers will even cultivate in places where it’s so steep that they have to rope banana plants to the slopes to stop them falling away!”


Fruit bats have an important and dynamic role in the regeneration of tropical forests as they disperse the seeds from the fruit they are eating. Livingstone’s fruit bats are therefore understood to be vital to the health of the forest.

The forest home of Livingstone’s fruit bat is suffering from the fastest rate of deforestation in the world - almost double that of any other country. Over 80 per cent of the islands’ human population is dependent on small-scale agriculture for their livelihoods, so with the population growing rapidly, there is constant pressure for new fields in the forest.

This situation is made worse by farming techniques that are poorly adapted to farming steep slopes where soils are easily eroded and lose their nutrients. As farmers move up the slopes to create new fields, they open the way for large, old trees to be felled for use in construction.

Conservation efforts aiming to tackle the root causes of deforestation as part of the ‘Engagement Communautaire pour le Développement Durable’ (ECDD) project have so far enabled over 1,000 farmers to improve their agricultural production in lowland fields in order to reduce pressure for new land in forest areas.

Hugh Doulton, ECDD Project Coordinator said: “The human population of Anjouan and Mohéli are just as dependent on remaining forest as the fruit bats and other native species: 30 years ago there were 50 permanent rivers on Anjouan; now, due to accelerating deforestation there are only 10. The islands are at real risk of ecological collapse and the future looks bleak if the trajectory is not reversed.”

He added: “At the same time as working to improve farming practices we are also helping local people to take collective decisions about using their land more sustainably and protecting their forests, water resources and biodiversity. The fruit bats are incredibly important in their own right as they promote forest regeneration, but they are also a powerful symbol for the state of the Comoros’ forests.”

Bristol Zoo Gardens, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and Chester Zoo are the only UK establishments which keep Livingstone’s fruit bats in captivity. The organisations have collections of 13, 42 and three animals respectively, as part of a European conservation breeding programme for the species.