In the 1980s, bats had a huge image problem. Consequently, the winged mammals were being slaughtered by fruit farmers, ranchers, and city dwellers terrified by reports of rabid bloodsuckers. Entire species—the Indiana bat, the lesser long-nosed bat, the gray bat—were edging towards extinction without the public realizing it. 

Enter Merlin Tuttle, an ecologist and conservationist who’s spent the last five decades studying, protecting, and photographing these unloved creatures for National Geographic, a career he reflects on in The Secret Lives of Bats.

Immediately striking is just how dangerous studying bats can be. Tuttle has endured a lot—from ammonia poisoning to run-ins with gun-toting moonshiners to the near constant threat of hypothermia—to observe the animals, which often live in remote caves and only come out at night. But thrills and chills aren’t really the point. It’s a deep love for the creatures that has him doggedly pursuing just the right shot, or explaining patiently to frustrated farmers that bats actually eat costly pests.

Changing the public’s mind about bats has taken more than just getting the facts straight. Tuttle’s painstaking National Geographic photos showed bats as people had never seen them before: charismatic, mysterious, and (yes) adorable. His work is a primer for those working to save their favorite endangered animals—it takes passionate advocacy, rigorous research, public education, and some great PR. This new public awareness is crucial, Tuttle writes, as bats face the ongoing epidemic of white-nose syndrome, which has already killed more than 5 million in North America.