204 Conservation news
in China and neighbouring countries, particularly focused insectivorous species Hipposideros bicolor, Hipposideros in the Tien Shan and Pamir Mountain region. larvatus, K. picta, Miniopterusmedius,Otomopsformosus, Pipistrellus javanicus, Rhinolophus lepidus, Scotophilus kuhlii PHILIP RIORDAN*† Department of Zoology, University of and Tylonycteris robustula (although the identification of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, UK some specimens may be incorrect). Most sellers were based E-mail [email protected] in the USA, and the others in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Apart from O. formosus, categorized as Data ‡ † JUN WANG and KUN SHI* The Wildlife Institute, Beijing Deficient on the IUCN Red List, the other species are categor- Forestry University, Beijing, China ized as Least Concern. Although these sales do not involve threatened species, the legality of the procurement and sale of HONGYAN FU and ZHU DABUXILIKE Yanchiwan National bat specimens is questionable. In Vietnam, for example, the Nature Reserve, Subei County, Gansu Forestry LawonForestProtectionandDevelopment() affords pro- Administration, China tection to all wildlife species. It is illegal to hunt, transport, keep, advertize, sell or consume wildlife without a permit; we do not KEBIAO ZHU and XIAOHU WANG Kashi Wildlife Conservation and Management Division, Xinjiang Forestry know if the souvenir suppliers and sellers have the necessary Administration, China permits. One eBay seller based in Vietnam had sold framed K. picta at the time of our search and still had available stock. – *Also at: Wildlife Without Borders UK, Oxford, UK The prices of K. picta specimens on eBay were USD . †Also at: The Wildlife Institute, Beijing Forestry University, . , typically more expensive than those we observed in Tsinghua-East, China Vietnam. Other websites that retail mounted bats include ‡Also at: Department of Biological Sciences, Manchester Amazon, Etsy, Oddities Store and the Evolution Store. Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK The potential unsustainability of harvesting bats for the souvenir trade is of concern given that we know little of wild bat populations and offtakes. Bats are long-lived and Increasing concern over trade in bat souvenirs from slowly reproducing, with many species already declining South-east Asia and facing future threats as a result of habitat loss. For exam- ple, the range-restricted Kitti’s hog-nosed bat Craseonycteris Wildlife species are harvested and traded in many forms, thonglongyai—the world’s smallest mammal—was threa- including as souvenirs such as claws, ivory jewellery, marine tened by collection for the souvenir trade shortly after its de- shells and preserved specimens of insects and other small an- scription in (Hutson et al., , Microchiropteran imals. During a visit to Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City with Bats: Global Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan, South-east Asian bat researchers in December we en- IUCN). Although the harvest of bats for bushmeat has been countered mounted specimens of bats alongside specimens reviewed at a global scale (Mickleburgh et al., , Oryx, , of insects and other invertebrates for sale in souvenir shops. –), almost nothing is known of the potential impacts of Although such trade is known in South-east Asia, one par- the souvenir trade on bats. We call for socio-ecological studies ticular species, the woolly painted bat Kerivoula picta, stood on this trade, especially in range countries, to understand the out. K. picta is a distinctive orange-coloured bat with patches extent of exploitation and the commodity chain. This infor- of black on the wing membrane. It occurs from South Asia, mation is urgently needed to determine whether the trade is southern China and mainland South-east Asia to Sumatra, sustainable and whether interventions are necessary to curb Java and the Moluccas, although there are few recent records the trade of such wildlife souvenirs. for its eastern range. The asking price for a mounted speci- We thank the Southeast Asian Bat Conservation Research men was c. USD , and one mounted with a tube-nosed Unit supported by the National Science Foundation under bat (Murina sp.) was c. USD (USD after discussion) Grant No. . in another shop. Other mounted bat species for sale included ‘ ’ pipistrelles (labelled Pipistrel ) for c. USD each, and fruit BENJAMIN P.Y.-H. LEE and MATTHEW J. STRUEBIG Durrell ‘ ’ bats (Macroglossus sp.), labelled dog bats . SJR has also Institute of Conservation and Ecology, School of observed many mounted bats, typically Tylonycteris sp., for Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, sale in tourist markets in China. Canterbury, UK. E-mail [email protected] The trade in bat specimens goes beyond tourist shops; a search on e-commerce site eBay, on December ,using STEPHEN J. ROSSITER School of Biological & Chemical Sciences, the term ‘bat taxidermy’ revealed mounted and osteological Queen Mary University of London, London, UK specimens of several South-east Asian bat species. These included frugivorous species labelled as Cynopterus sp., TIGGA KINGSTON Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Macroglossus minimus and Rousettus leschenaultii, and the Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA
Oryx, 2015, 49(2), 201–206 © 2015 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605315000058 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.76, on 30 Sep 2021 at 05:34:21, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605315000034