Extinction of bat highlights critical ecosystem failure
By TOM ARUP, ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT A LAST-DITCH effort to save the Christmas Island pipistrelle bat has failed, leaving the animal facing almost certain extinction. A dejected Lindy Lumsden from the Australasian Bat Society said a four-week trapping program to breed the endangered pipistrelle – endemic to Christmas Island – had failed to net a single animal. Though she hoped a new colony of the species could be found on Christmas Island, Dr Lumsden said yesterday it was now unlikely and extinction was a real possibility. If it disappears, the pipistrelle bat would be the first Australian mammal known to have become extinct since the crescent nail-tail wallaby in 1956. Eight researchers who attempted the trapping project over the past four weeks saw only one bat, which evaded attempts at capture made with nets and bat calls. This year researchers raised alarms after finding just four Christmas Island pipistrelle bats and later estimating there might be only 20 left in the world. …
