Human-bat interactions in central Colombia: Regional perceptions of a worldwide fragile life zone

Abstract

The study of human relationships with other components of the landscape allows us to understand the dynamics of ecological communities and biodiversity. Although there has been an increase in ethnobiological studies, little is known about the interaction between humans and bats. The objective of this study was to evaluate the perceptions and attitudes about bats by people in the fragile life zone of the tropical dry forest of Colombia. We selected four representative areas and evaluated three different aspects: (1) biological and ecological knowledge, (2) uses and cultural beliefs, and (3) interactions between humans and bats. The data were collected through surveys of 18 questions to 197 people with a gender ratio close to parity. The data obtained are presented as descriptive statistics by using a generalized linear model (GLM). The results showed that people's knowledge and attitude towards bats depend on the covariates of education and gender of the respondents. Women and people with a higher education level had positive attitudes towards bats. Although the ecosystem services provided by bats were clearly recognized, the need for conservation was not as obvious. These results indicate that human-bat relationships are complex and may be the result of multiple social and cultural factors.Likewise, these cross-cultural perceptions must be understood and addressed in the development of actions that promote the conservation of bats in tropical forests.

Perception and attitudes of local communities towards vertebrate fauna in the Andes of Colombia: Effects of gender and the urban/rural setting

“…The fear of bats is founded on the fact that they can bite, and a few species feeds on blood or can transmit some disease, such as rabies, to humans or their domestic animals (Monter et al 2017). In the dry forest of Colombia, Ramírez-Fráncel et al (2021) determined that the perception of local human communities about bats depended on the educational level and gender, and 69% of the respondents had a positive perception when recognizing the ecosystem services that were provided such as pollination (Kunz et al 2011); but they were not clear if they were species that should be conserved (Ramirez-Francel et al 2022;Ramírez-Fráncel et al 2021). In this study, some respondents associated bat stories with death and bad luck (Figure 3).…”

“…Bats are essential since they provide ecosystem services such as pollination, seed dispersal, and pest control. Still, their inconspicuous appearance generates fear and disgust, added to the misinformation in the media and social networks that allows them to generate negative perceptions and attitudes, a future problem if comprehensive conservation strategies are to be generated (Knight 2008;Kunz et al 2011;Paterson et al 2014;Ramírez-Fráncel et al 2021;Rego et al 2015). Bats can transmit rabies to humans and farm animals (Lawson et al 2019;Rocha et al 2021).…”

Bioecological representations and social characteristics of students influence their attitudes toward wild vertebrates

“…Although jaguar attacks on humans are rare, emotions such as fear can be induced by predators which are larger and heavier than humans (as in the case of bears, wolves, and big cats) [ 12 ]. The expressive antipathy related to the bat may be associated with the potential risk of transmitting diseases, in addition to being socially stigmatized and involved in myths and beliefs with a negative connotation [ 38 , 93 , 94 ]. Misinformation can be an intensifier of bat disgust when considering (for example) the hypothesis that Covid-19 originated in a spillover event of pathogens from bats and pangolins to humans, which led to an increase in negative attitudes such as rabies, disgust or fear of these animals, encouraging their eradication [ 12 ].…”