Bats are socially complex, echolocating mammals whose welfare in captivity requires specialised housing, social groups, and acoustic environments.
Bat welfare in captivity is challenged by their specialist needs and the difficulty of assessing their behavioural and physiological state. Bats express stress through vocalisation, abnormal roosting positions, and wing membrane damage. Flight deprivation, even brief, causes muscle atrophy and welfare compromise. Social isolation for colonial species is severely detrimental. Walk-through fruit bat exhibits that allow public interaction risk distress through repeated contact. Sanctuaries handling injured bats must minimise human contact to preserve wild behaviour for release candidates. Housing decisions must balance educational and conservation value with individual welfare cost.