Through summer, the Naracoorte cave in South Australia \u2013 one of three maternity sites for the species \u2013 becomes home to the largest population when the bats return to give birth and raise their young.<\/p>\n
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n Over the past five years, the peak population at Naracoorte has averaged 28,600 adults, but last summer, that fell by about 14-16%.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve lost quite a lot of the adults,\u201d said bat ecologist Nicola Bail, who coordinates the species recovery team at Zoos Victoria.<\/p>\n Southern bent-wing bats\u2019 decline in numbers is a \u2018huge concern\u2019 to researchers. Photograph: Steve Bourne<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re really not sure what the cause of this decline is, but it is really concerning, especially with so many threats operating in the range of the southern bent-wing bat.\u201d<\/p>\n Population counts at the World Heritage listed site date back to the 1960s, when as many as 200,000 bats were recorded. Severe declines since then have seen southern bent-wing bats listed as one of Australia\u2019s eight critically endangered mammals.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re still hanging on. They\u2019re a real little fighter,\u201d Bail said.<\/p>\n But the recent drop, which includes some of the lowest male survival rates in a decade, would have long-term ramifications. Southern bent-wing bats depend heavily on adult survival, she said. The bats are known to live up to 22 years, with females producing only one young a year.<\/p>\n Associate prof Jasmin Hufschmid, from the University of Melbourne, said the bats were \u201cgorgeous little creatures\u201d that played an \u201cinvaluable\u201d role controlling agricultural pests and insects that spread disease.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | When needed<\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re very important animals for us, but we just don\u2019t really see it because they\u2019re really small, they\u2019re out at night,\u201d said Hufschmid, who researches bat health but was not involved with the counts at Naracoorte.<\/p>\n Possible explanations for the decline include habitat clearing, drought<\/a>, fewer flying insects that the bats eat, or human disturbance at non-breeding caves, many of which are located on private land.<\/p>\n The bats have been in their current area of Australia for about 500,000 years. Photograph: Steve Bourne<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A_southern_bent-wing_bat--6e65758a-92fd-4592-9d9b-88371e5a639a-2.0.0000000.jpg\")
A southern bent-wing bat<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782377121_317_2998.jpg\")
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