Intense Hunting Pressure Drives Roost Use in the Egyptian Fruit Bat: Conservation and One Health Implications

ABSTRACT Overexploitation is a leading cause of global species extinction. At the population level, intense hunting reduces populations and can change the distribution and behaviors of species seeking refugia. The Egyptian fruit bat ( Rousettus aegyptiacus ), an obligate cave‐roosting bat, is intensely hunted in Nigeria, with offtake reaching up to 4000 bats killed per cave visit. However, the impact of such intense hunting on populations and their selection of cave roosts is poorly understood. Cave dimensions, microclimatic conditions, and human disturbance are important drivers of roost selection in other cave‐dwelling bats. To understand the drivers of roost use in R. aegyptiacus , we measured these cave attributes and quantified hunting pressure as the number of abandoned hunting sticks (used to hold nets) at 30 caves across two localities in southern Nigeria. To evaluate hunters' access, we computed the least‐cost path—the shortest and easiest route from human settlements to caves—and scored cave accessibility (difficulty of entry). We estimated bat abundance at caves with emergence counts and modeled the relationship between R. aegyptiacus abundance and all predictor variables using Generalized Linear Model and Conditional Inference Trees. Here, we present the first direct measure of bat hunting pressure and show that bat hunting intensity is the major driver of R. aegyptiacus distributions across caves in southeast Nigeria. Hunting pressure was the strongest predictor ( p < 0.05) of R. aegyptiacus abundance. In addition, caves with the highest evidence of hunting no longer hold bats, suggesting that bats were abandoning caves with the most hunting activity or had been hunted to local extinction. We established a threshold of six hunting sticks beyond which bats start to abandon caves. These findings provide critical information for conservation and One Health interventions by offering a method to prioritize caves for protection based on hunting intensity.