TRANG – A large habitat of some 400 rare lesser great leaf-nosed bats has been discovered in Trang province. Villagers believe it is the last large bat habitat to have been found in the country.
Villagers on Khuan Miang Mountain in Huay Yod district, Trang province, took our reporter to see a group of rare to find lesser great leaf-nosed bats.
These bats, which are facing extinction, can now only be found in Vietnam, Japan and Trang province of Thailand. They have been put on the country’s list of protected species.
Village headsman of Moo 1 village in Pak Chaem subdistrict, Mr. Somkid Naluean, said this colony of bats has grown in population, from 150, in a study by a Prince of Songkhla University academic in 2002, 400 bats this year. This population growth is a result of the villagers’ conservation efforts.
Observations at caves in Khuan Miang Mountain also found bats guano in 4 caves. Villagers believe that their villages are home to this rare kind of bat, likely the only such large habitat in Thailand.
