Sumit Dookia

The Wroughton’s Free-Tailed Bat Otomops wroughtoni is one of the rarest representatives of the family Molossidae globally, presently known from two breeding colonies in the Western Ghats and Meghalaya, and a single individual from Cambodia, and Sri Lanka, each. In this paper, we report the first confirmed record of O. wroughtoni from Yamuna Biodiversity Park, New Delhi, on 26 November 2024. This record constitutes a considerable northward range record of the bat species into the Indo-Gangetic Plains. It highlights the role of urban ecological restoration in providing functional habitat for rare fauna, which could help formulate conservation strategies.

Deemed forest, recently upgraded terminology for sacred groves, is just a new catchword. Rajasthan’s sacred groves are widely acknowledged as important carbon sinks that contribute to mitigating climate change, particularly for the state’s arid and semi-arid ecology. However, precise, current carbon sequestration values (in tonnes per hectare or similar) for Rajasthan’s sacred groves are not publicly available as of mid-2025. Official mapping and scientific assessment of these groves, now mandated by the Supreme Court, is expected to provide concrete data shortly.

Bats are ecologically crucial as they are good pollinators and pest controllers, but are less known in Bhutan. We investigated bat diversity and richness in broadleaved forests of southwestern Bhutan. Fieldwork was carried out from July 2016 to April 2017 using mist nets and hoop nets. The main objective of the study was to document bat diversity and species richness. We captured 157 bats of 10 species belonging to four families. Two species (Myotis siligorensis Horsfield, 1855 and Rhinolophus affinis Horsfield, 1823) accounted for almost 52% of the total captures. Species richness of bats differed depending upon habitat types. Myotis siligorensis was captured more often from broadleaved forests whereas Rhinolophus macrotis Blyth, 1844 and Rhinolophus affinis were common around human settlements. The present study contributed three new records for Bhutan which increased the bat diversity from 65 to 68 species. We conclude that the southwestern region, especially Chukha District, could be one of the bat diversity hotspots in Bhutan.

We highlight the importance of an integrated management policy for archaeological monuments and the insect-eating bats that roost inside them. We refer to India, but the issue is general and of worldwide significance. There is increasing evidence that the ecosystem services provided by insect-eating bats in agricultural fields are of vital economic importance, which is likely to increase as chemical pest-control methods become inefficient due to evolving multi-resistance in insects. We visited five archaeological sites in the city of New Delhi. We found bats at all five locations, and three of them harbored large colonies (many thousands) of mouse-tailed bats and tomb bats. These bats likely disperse over extensive areas to feed, including agricultural fields in the vicinity and beyond. All insect-eating bats should be protected and properly managed as a valuable resource at the archaeological sites where they occur. We firmly believe that “fear” of bats can be turned into curiosity by means of education and that their presence should instead enhance the value of the sites. We suggest some means to protect the bats roosting inside the buildings, while mitigating potential conflicts with archaeological and touristic interests.

Here we report re-sighting records of the Fulvous Leaf-nosed Bat Hipposideros fulvus after a gap of almost four decades (37 years), from Rajasthan, India, on the basis of two male specimens collected from a cave dwelling colony of about 20 individuals from Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. This species has been once reported in 1979 from a man-made tunnel in Mandore Garden in Jodhpur and later the same sighting information was re-quoted by several researchers. The present sighting from a new locality and the voucher specimen confirms the re-sighting of this species after a long gap.