BATS ON THE GROUND AT NTU.WHAT'S GOING ON?

Students conduct study to find out why 45 bats have fallen to ground there since Aug

- Zachary Lim

Lifeless bodies have been found around the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) campus—some of them with their little wings splayed out, while others were curled up.

These bats were grounded and unable to take flight.

Since August 2024, 45 bat groundings and deaths have been reported across NTU. Of these, 15 groundings and seven deaths were reported in 2025 between mid-January and mid-February.

The National Parks Board (NParks) said that while grounding events of various species of bats have been reported outside of NTU, there has not been any other location with a similar concentration of such incidents.

NTU environmental and wildlife student interest group EarthLink began rescuing these grounded bats in 2024.

Ms Karina Lim, EarthLink director at that time, said she and her team initially suspected that the bat groundings might be linked to pesticide fogging. But they quickly dismissed this possibility as checks found no fogging had been done in the area in the weeks they were consistently finding grounded bats.

As most groundings were reported around NTU's Hall of Residence 9, they hypothesized that the nearby construction of the Jurong Region MRT line that could be causing distress to the bats or impacting their sonar capabilities. But the students cannot prove this.

Learning about EarthLink's rescue efforts, first-year environmental and earth systems science undergraduate Emma Chao and Ms Nicole Dorville, a third-year PhD student from NTU's Asian School of the Environment, came together to find out why the groundings seem to be more prevalent on campus.