Honored bat conservation expert

The 19th Whitley Gold Award of the Whitley Friends Fund for Nature was given to Rodrigo Medellín, an expert who has contributed to the conservation of bat species for many years. He is a member of the bat research team of the International Conservation Conservation Program (IUCN / SSC).

Bat expert Rodrigo Medellín

The awards ceremony took place on May 9, 2012 at the Royal Geological Society (RGS) headquarters in Lon Don, and like every year, the award was personally awarded by Princess Anne. More notably, Rodrigo Medellín was also the owner of this award 8 years ago.

His tireless efforts have helped many bat populations in Mexico to remain stable, with some populations becoming more visible. Typically, the small long-nosed bat Leptonycteris yerbabuenae has been removed from Mexico's Endangered Species List.

Not only that, Rodrigo Medellín also deployed similar projects in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and promoted the establishment of the Latin American bat conservation network.

The meaningful money awarded from the Whitley Awards Organizing Committee will help Rodrigo Medellín continue to expand these activities.