Featuring incredible photography and insight from an international team with long-term ties to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Bat Island spotlights the unique beauty and environmental importance of the seventy-six species of bats on Panama's Barro Colorado Island.

For decades, scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute have studied the remarkable biodiversity of bats on Barro Colorado Island in Panama, where an astonishing seventy-six species coexist. Now, for the first time, Smithsonian scientists' expertise pairs with the stunning photography of National Geographic contributor Christian Ziegler for a captivating visual journey into the fascinating world of these elusive night creatures.

Bats are unique among mammals: they have acquired true flight, provide essential ecosystem services, and represent the ecologically most diverse group of mammals worldwide. Synthesizing decades-worth of intensive study, Drs. Rachel Page, Dina Dechmann, Teague O'Mara, and Marco Tschapka provide authoritative insight alongside 150 photographs that showcase bats' extraordinary environmental adaptations and rich natural history.

OVER 150 STUNNING PHOTOGRAPHS: National Geographic photographer and contributor Christian Ziegler has captured over a decade's worth of images of the myriad of bat species living on Barro Colorado Island that capture these elusive animals in a variety of settings, from night shots of flight through the tropical rainforest to closeups of their remarkable wings and feeding patterns.

WRITTEN BY SMITHSONIAN SCIENTISTS: All chapters of Bat Island are written by scientists long affiliated with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, one of the world's leading tropical research organizations that spans a century. Topics include bats' diverse sensory abilities, foraging strategies, roosting ecologies, and social systems.

DECADES OF CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH: Bat Island, published in partnership with the Smithsonian, presents fascinating insights from scientists working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, which boasts decades of study of the hyperdiverse bat population on Barro Colorado Island in addition to the most comprehensive and long-term datasets on tropical bats.

CALL FOR CONSERVATION: Drs. Page, Dechmann, O'Mara, and Tschapka highlight how bats are threatened by habit fragmentation and land degradation, and communicate the initiatives needed to ensure the survival of these animals, which are critical to maintaining healthy, balanced ecosystems.

RARE BEAUTY: Award-winning photojournalist Christian Ziegler's photography illuminates the unique beauty and allure of bats and the tropical rainforest in Panama.
About the Author: Christian Ziegler is a German photojournalist specializing in natural history and science with a focus on tropical ecosystems. An Associate for Communication with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama for twelve years, Ziegler currently works for the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and is a regular contributor to National Geographic. Ziegler's work has been awarded numerous prizes in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, European Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and the North American Nature Photography Association competitions. A tropical ecologist by training, Christian has worked in tropical rainforests on four continents. His aim is to highlight species and ecosystems under threat and share their beauty and importance with the world.

Dr. Rachel A. Page is a Staff Scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, where she leads the Smithsonian Bat Lab (www.noseleaf.org). Together, she and her students have studied bat sensory and cognitive ecology in the tropics for over twenty years. Page completed her PhD at the University of Texas at Austin. She has published over one hundred peer-reviewed articles on bat behavior and the sensory and cognitive tools animals use to interact with their environments and each other.

Dr. Dina K. N. Dechmann is a Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, lecturer at the University of Konstanz, and Research Associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. She has studied the bats of Panama for over twenty years and investigates adaptations of bats to variability and bottlenecks in their food landscape. Dechmann received her PhD at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. Her research has been published in academic journals including Current Biology, Biological Reviews, Ecology Letters, Proceedings of the Royal Society, and Science Advances.

Dr. M. Teague O'Mara is the Director of Conservation Evidence at Bat Conservation International where he works on data-driven strategies for the conservation of global bat populations. Teague has studied animal behavior, movement, and physiology across the globe, with emphasis on bats in Panama. He is a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, and an Adjunct Professor at Southeastern Louisiana University. He received his PhD from Arizona State University.

Dr. Marco Tschapka is a professor at the University of Ulm in Germany and Research Associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. He works on bat-plant interactions and is especially interested in the ecology of Neotropical nectar-feeding bats. Tschapka received his PhD from Friedrich Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. Together with many collaborators and his students, he has worked on related projects in many Latin American countries, including Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, and Panama.

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, headquartered in Panama City, Panama, is a unit of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, USA. The institute furthers the understanding of tropical biodiversity and its importance to human welfare, trains students to conduct research in the tropics, and promotes conservation by increasing public awareness of the beauty and importance of tropical ecosystems.