Happy Bat Appreciation Day! Common Vampire Bat (Desmodus rotundus), Costa Rica, 2010

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Tehuantepec Jackrabbit (Lepus flavigularis), Oaxaca, Mexico, 2024

Fewer than a thousand of these beautiful jackrabbits remain in one tiny area of Oaxaca. Possibly the world’s most endangered rabbit, they are clinging to survival around the shores of a single salt water lagoon in a remote area of Oaxaca. They face a tragedy of threats including habitat loss, fire, feral dogs and poaching. Seeing several last week was a major highlight of my trip to Mexico, as was meeting some of the local community - who were as welcoming as these rabbits are rare - working to protect them.

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Johnston’s Genet (Genetta johnstoni), Ivory Coast, 2024

According to wikipedia this beautiful small carnivore is “considered one of West Africa’s least known carnivores, and until the turn of the century was known only from museum collections. In January 2000, a dead individual was found near the Taï National Park in Côte d’Ivoire. In July of the same year, the first live individual known to science was trapped.”

Yet they seemed quite common in Tai Forest earlier this month. We saw 5 in as many days.

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Lesser (Dwarf) Anomalure (Anomalurus pusillus), Cote D’Ivoire, 2024.

The anomalures are Africa’s answer to the flying squirrels of North America, Asia and Northern Europe, and Australia’s gliders.

These nocturnal squirrel-sized gliding rodents are found through Africa’s rainforests. Anomalures are also called ‘scalytails’ because of the row of hard scales underneath their tail that are clearly visible in this photo. The scales - anomalurian velcro - help the animals grip onto smooth tree trunks and branches.

This is the smallest of the four true anomalures and seems rarely to have been photographed, and I am pretty sure never before photographed looking as cute as this little fluff ball. In fact it was so sweet looking I had trouble believing it was an anomalure: the other scalytails I have seen looked like fairly sinister squirrels in desperate need of an orthodontist.. I suspect this is a young animal that had just emerged from its daytime tree hollow and was not quite ready to face the evening.

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