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Are sacred caves still safe havens for the endemic bats of Madagascar?

dc.contributor.authorFernández-Llamazares, Álvaro
dc.contributor.authorLópez-Baucells, Adrià
dc.contributor.authorRocha, Ricardo
dc.contributor.authorAndriamitandrina, Santatra F. M.
dc.contributor.authorAndriatafika, Zo Emmanuel
dc.contributor.authorBurgas, Daniel
dc.contributor.authorTemba, Eric Marcel
dc.contributor.authorTorrent, Laura
dc.contributor.authorCabeza, Mar
dc.date.accessioned2023-10-13T10:47:16Z
dc.date.available2023-10-13T10:47:16Z
dc.date.issued2018-04
dc.description.abstractDespite conservation discourses in Madagascar increasingly emphasizing the role of customary institutions for wildlife management, we know relatively little about their effectiveness. Here, we used semi-structured interviews with 54 adults in eight villages to investigate whether sacred caves and taboos offer conservation benefits for cave-dwelling bats in and around Tsimanampetsotsa National Park, south-west Madagascar. Although some caves were described as sites of spiritual significance for the local communities, most interviewees (c. 76%) did not recognize their present-day sacred status. Similarly, only 22% of the interviewees recognized taboos inhibiting bat hunting and consumption. Legal protection of bats and caves through protected areas was often more widely acknowledged than customary regulations, although up to 30% of the interviewees reported consumption of bats within their communities. Guano extraction was often tolerated in sacred caves in exchange for economic compensation. This may benefit bat conservation by creating incentives for bat protection, although extraction is often performed through destructive and exploitative practices with little benefit for local communities. In view of these results our study questions the extent to which sacred sites, taboos and protected areas offer protection for bats in Madagascar. These results support previous studies documenting the erosion of customary institutions in Madagascar, including the loss of the spiritual values underpinning sacred sites. Given that many Malagasy bats are cave-dwelling species and that most depend on the customary protection of these sites, it is important to obtain a better understanding of the complex interactions between spiritual practices, taboos and protected areas in sustaining bat diversity.pt_PT
dc.description.versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionpt_PT
dc.identifier.citationFernández-Llamazares, Á, López-Baucells, A., Rocha, R., Andriamitandrina, S., Andriatafika, Z., Burgas, D., . . . Cabeza, M. (2018). Are sacred caves still safe havens for the endemic bats of Madagascar? Oryx, 52(2), 271-275. doi:10.1017/S0030605317001648pt_PT
dc.identifier.doi10.1017/S0030605317001648pt_PT
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10451/59735
dc.language.isoengpt_PT
dc.peerreviewedyespt_PT
dc.publisherCambrigde University Presspt_PT
dc.relationAcademy of Finland (grant agreement nrs. 311176 and 292765)pt_PT
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/pt_PT
dc.titleAre sacred caves still safe havens for the endemic bats of Madagascar?pt_PT
dc.typejournal article
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.citation.endPage275pt_PT
oaire.citation.issue2pt_PT
oaire.citation.startPage271pt_PT
oaire.citation.titleOryxpt_PT
oaire.citation.volume52pt_PT
person.familyNameLópez-Baucells
person.givenNameAdrià
person.identifierhttps://scholar.google.es/citations?user=id4umQUAAAAJ&hl=en
person.identifier.ciencia-id791D-D689-A5DD
person.identifier.orcid0000-0001-8446-0108
rcaap.rightsopenAccesspt_PT
rcaap.typearticlept_PT
relation.isAuthorOfPublication8e74bba8-758e-42b0-8c37-e458cebb2a49
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery8e74bba8-758e-42b0-8c37-e458cebb2a49

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