Last call of the Christmas Island Pipistrelle

Have you heard of the Christmas Island Pipistrelle? Probably not, and you may never have the chance to. This tiny microbat, weighing only three grams and scientifically named Pipistrellus murrayi, was once found exclusively on Christmas Island. Unfortunately, it was declared extinct in 2017. 

In 2009, a group of eight scientists and volunteers from organisations including Zoos Victoria, the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, and the Australasian Bat Society, spent four weeks surveying the island. They managed to record the Pipistrelle’s echolocation but never captured or observed the bat again. Its ultrasonic call, too high-pitched for human ears, has now been added to the NFSA’s Sounds of Australia collection, preserved as a record of the species’ final days. 

The sound was carefully adjusted by the NFSA’s sound engineers to make it audible and accessible, serving as a significant addition to the collection. 

The bat was known to be widespread between its first description in 1900 and the 1980s, but ultrasonic monitoring through the 1990s showed a rapid decline due to issues such as phosphate mining, roost disturbance and introduced species including the yellow crazy ant and black rat. 

Christmas Island has now lost four of its five native mammals, contributing to the 38 mammal species that have become extinct across Australia since colonisation. 

Image on Sounds of Australia page: courtesy Dr Lindy Lumsden

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