ABSTRACT Urbanization has resulted in the loss of natural habitat for many bat species, often placing bats in close proximity to humans. Bats are generally perceived as agricultural and medical pests, despite providing ecosystem services including seed dispersal and pollination. Understanding public perceptions and knowledge of bats as well as responses to bats is necessary for developing suitable educational programs to support bat conservation. Here we examined the urban communities’ knowledge of bats and how they perceive and respond to bats in Peninsular Malaysia. A questionnaire survey of 340 respondents revealed that women generally had better knowledge of bats compared with men. Respondents with tertiary education and knowledge of the ecological roles of bats tended to support the conservation of bats. In addition, there was low demand for bat meat in this region. Family-based educational programs could help to improve the perception of bats among women and increase knowledge of bats among men. Educational programs highlighting the biology and ecology of bats should be conducted at primary and secondary schools to raise awareness of bats among children who could share this knowledge of bats with their family members.

中文翻译：

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公众对马来西亚半岛城市地区蝙蝠的认知和反应

摘要 城市化导致许多蝙蝠物种失去自然栖息地，通常将蝙蝠置于人类附近。尽管蝙蝠提供了包括种子传播和授粉在内的生态系统服务，但人们普遍认为蝙蝠是农业和医疗害虫。了解公众对蝙蝠的看法和知识以及对蝙蝠的反应对于制定合适的教育计划以支持蝙蝠保护是必要的。在这里，我们研究了城市社区对蝙蝠的了解以及他们如何感知和应对马来西亚半岛的蝙蝠。一项针对 340 名受访者的问卷调查显示，女性普遍比男性更了解蝙蝠。受过高等教育并了解蝙蝠生态作用的受访者倾向于支持保护蝙蝠。此外，该地区对蝙蝠肉的需求很低。以家庭为基础的教育计划有助于提高女性对蝙蝠的认识，并增加男性对蝙蝠的了解。应在中小学开展强调蝙蝠生物学和生态学的教育计划，以提高可以与家人分享蝙蝠知识的儿童对蝙蝠的认识。