Dr. Chen Chia-hung, a colleague at the Shei-Pa National Park Headquarters (hereinafter referred to as the Shei-Pa Headquarters), has long been invested in bat resource investigation and monitoring work within the park during his spare time. The 2025 survey results have once again brought good news. The national endangered species, the Asian Parti-colored Bat, continues to be captured in the Guanwu area, and the Formosan Golden Bat was captured again after a 19-year gap. Simultaneously, the Yellow-throated House Bat was added as a new record species for the Guanwu area, bringing the cumulative number of bat species in Guanwu to 27. This makes it the location with the highest number of bat species in a single site among currently known reports in the country, highlighting the key position of the Shei-Pa area in Taiwan's mid-to-high altitude forest ecosystems.    

Asian Parti-colored Bat Continues to Appear in Guanwu, Indicating the Importance of High-Altitude Habitats
The Asian Parti-colored Bat is extremely rare in Taiwan and was previously thought to have potentially disappeared from the island until the first live record was made in Guanwu in 2006. After reappearing in 2024, one Asian Parti-colored Bat was captured again in the Guanwu area during the 2025 survey. Whether Guanwu is an important node for the Asian Parti-colored Bat's overwintering or migration process still requires continuous monitoring and the accumulation of data to clarify.

The Asian Parti-colored Bat is mainly distributed in the temperate to sub-arctic regions of East Asia, with Taiwan located at the southernmost limit of its global distribution. Its population in Taiwan is small and its distribution limited, leading it to be listed as a national endangered species. Capture records in the Guanwu area for two consecutive years hold significant research value for subsequently clarifying its seasonal activity patterns, habitat utilization, and possible overwintering strategies.

Formosan Golden Bat Captured Again After 19 Years, Showing the Species Still Exists Stably    
Another important result of the 2025 survey was the recapture of the Formosan Golden Bat in the Guanwu area. The previous capture record for this species in the Guanwu area was in 2006. This capture, coming after a 19-year gap, confirms once again that the Formosan Golden Bat still appears in the Guanwu area.

The Formosan Golden Bat belongs to a group of Myotis bats with relatively few records in Taiwan. Its population size and distribution status remain unclear. Currently, it is mainly recorded in central-southern Taiwan and the Taitung area and is listed as a national vulnerable species. It is currently known to be a seasonal migratory species like the Asian Parti-colored Bat. The recapture of this species this time indicates that the Guanwu area may also be a node on its migration route or an overwintering habitat, maintaining usable habitat conditions even after many years. This is of key significance for confirming the continued existence of the species within the region and assessing its habitat needs and conservation value.

Yellow-throated House Bat Appears in Guanwu for the First Time, Pushing Species Count to 27
During the survey in September 2025, Dr. Chen Chia-hung captured a Yellow-throated House Bat in the Guanwu area, marking the first record of this bat species in the region. The Yellow-throated House Bat is named for the pale yellow fur band between its neck and shoulder-back and is an endemic species of Taiwan. Although distributed across various mountain altitudes, it is a relatively rare species in Taiwan, mostly recorded sporadically near mid-altitude streams, with other ecological habits remaining unknown.

The addition of this newly recorded species brings the cumulative bat species in the Guanwu area to 27, showing that even with long-term investigations, there is still a chance to discover species with high concealment or low population density through continuous monitoring across different seasons and years.

Xuejian Large Bat House Stably Records the Protected Species Formosan Leaf-nosed Bat

Regarding bat house monitoring, in addition to accumulating records of the Formosan Greater Horseshoe Bat, Eastern Bent-winged Bat, Asian Barbastelle, and Long-tailed Myotis utilizing the large bat houses in the Xuejian Recreation Area, since the installation of infrared automatic cameras in 2024, it has been confirmed that the protected Formosan Leaf-nosed Bat continues to use the bat house as a temporary nocturnal roost.

The 2025 monitoring results showed that except for June, the use of the bat house by this species at night was stably recorded throughout almost the entire year, and the number of individuals photographed showed an increasing trend. It is speculated that June might be their breeding and nursing period, during which female bats utilize temporary nocturnal roosts less frequently.

Cross-Domain Cooperation Between Government, Academia, and the Public: Bat Conservation Enters Tribes

In 2025, the Shei-Pa Headquarters continued to collaborate with the Formosan Golden Bat's Home in Yunlin County for the exchange of bat survey techniques and was assisted by the museum in jointly promoting the Bailan Tribe Bat House Project, bringing bat conservation and monitoring into tribal areas. Through local participation and cross-domain cooperation, besides helping accumulate regional ecological data, it is also hoped that this can combine with environmental education and ecotourism in the future to create new possibilities for tribal development. At the same time, cooperation is also underway with Professor Chen Yi-ning's team from the Department of Bioscience Technology at Chung Yuan Christian University to conduct bat virus testing as a reference for management.

Lin Wen-he, Director of the Shei-Pa Headquarters, stated: "We encourage colleagues to invest in their own professional research outside of work. Dr. Chen Chia-hung conducted self-initiated bat research for four consecutive years from 2008 to 2011 in the Xuejian area and for three consecutive years from 2023 to 2025 in the Guanwu area, accumulating rich data on bat ecology for Shei-Pa National Park. At the same time, conservation results were implemented through bat houses and educational promotion in cooperation with tribes, demonstrating the professional and proactive work attitude of national park colleagues." In the future, besides colleagues' research, the Shei-Pa Headquarters will continue to conduct scientific research with relevant academic units, combine bat house monitoring with deepened local cooperation, and sound the basic ecological data of the Shei-Pa area to serve as an important basis for subsequent conservation and management.