International Bat Night in Armenia
The “International Bat Night” event has been celebrated worldwide since 1997, which is implemented by the “Agreement on the Conservation of Populations of European Bats” (EUROBATS) organization. It starts from the last week of August and is held all over the world.
The event is supported by the Armenian Association of Mammalogists NGO. The goal of the project is to present the bats distributed in Armenia, their biology and conservation issues. Such events help our society to preserve the rich but at the same time threatened bat fauna of Armenia.
In 2022 The “International Bat Night” event was held in Armenia on October 4, the International Day of Animal Protection. The event was organized by the employees of the Department of Zoology of YSU Biology Faculty (Ofelia Yelabekyan, Seda Adamyan) and members of the “Armenian Association of Mammalogists” environmental non-governmental organization (graduates of YSU Biology Faculty, Tatevik Harutyunyan, Anna Tadevsoyan). Entry to the event was free and students from Yerevan State University and other higher educational institutions, as well as students from abroad and senior and middle school students, took an active part. Lecturers of the Faculty of Biology of YSU Astghik Ghazaryan, Georgi Papov and the director of the Armenian Association of Mammalogists Tigran Hayrapetyan, as well as professor of the Khachatur Abovyan Pedagogical University Samvel Pipoyan gave lectures.
The participants of the event tried to use the modern methods of studying bats: they tried to do mist netting on the river, to record the flying bats with handheld and stationary ultrasound detectors, and analys with special software. Discussions were held on the importance of bats, their role in nature and also their role as a reservoir for various viruses, including the coronavirus.
