Mission LAVIA 2024 : traveling study of West African bats

The Mission LAVIA is an unprecedented, scientific and human itinerant expedition in West Africa, led and supported by six young French people from the Blairoudeurs Federation. The mission, planned in its field phase between May and August 2024, has as its object of study and common thread the chiroptera (bats). The entire field part of this expedition was carried out in an all-terrain vehicle from May 8 to August 2, 2024 in a round trip between Plougonvelin (29217, France) and Seredou (Guinea). Three main objectives are targeted through this operation. 1. The acquisition of scientific data (inventories by mist net captures, biometric measurements, prospecting of roosts, acoustic recordings, exchanges with locals) very largely incomplete on these bats in the many biomes, protected areas and villages that make up West Africa (Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and Guinea) with the cooperation of NGOs and local institutions.2. The wide dissemination and popularization of knowledge relating to this group of little-known or even mystified species and the exchange of knowledge with local populations. This work is carried out by strong link with the structures of the African territory through the network of the Francophonie and youth (capacity building of protected areas, participation of locals in study methodologies, organization of university conferences and school interventions, etc.). 3. The post-mission valorization of this expedition by the production of a documentary film (produced by two graduates of the Institut Francophone de Formation au Cinema Animalier de Menigoute (IFFCAM)), an artistic edition relating this naturalist and human experience (created by a student of the Ecole Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Montpellier), a scientific report presenting the mission results and the very wide dissemination of the data collected to the scientific and public spheres (GBIF global database, park agents, chiropterologists, etc.).