Finding is first since initial
discovery 22 years ago
Date: April 27, 2018
Source: Kyoto University
The critically endangered Yanbaru
whiskered bat, Myotis yanbarensis,
has been caught for the first time on Okinawa Island since its discovery 22
years ago. Kyoto University doctoral student Jason Preble succeeded in the
capture on the night of 20 February, during a survey in the Yanbaru Forest in
the north of Okinawa's main island.
The rare bat species was first
discovered in the subtropical Yanbaru Forest in 1996, when two specimens were
collected. It was later observed on a few occasions on the islands Tokunoshima
and Amami-Oshima, but no sightings were reported again on Okinawa Island.
This small tree-dwelling bat,
endemic to these islands, thus became a serious conservation concern and was
declared 'critically endangered,' the highest risk level, by both the Japanese
Ministry of Environment and the International Union for the Conservation of
Nature.
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