Life in the Fast Lane

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Throughout history, bats have frequently been deemed the familiars and alter egos of witches, and associated with the folklore of vampires. The mere mention of the word bat conjures visions of evil and hideous creatures laden with rabies and disease.

Photo Loveliest Village

For more than 10,000 years, the Bracken Cave in Texas has been home to as many as 20 million Mexican Free-tailed bats every spring — the largest concentration of the creatures in the world. At twilight they flow on whirring wings into the night sky.

Merely 20 miles (32 kilometers) from San Antonio, Conservation International acquired 692 acres of land including and surrounding Bracken Cave. Without the intervention from Bat Conservation International, the land would have been lost to housing developments within a few years.

In the ongoing face of adversity and age-old myths, the colony is a priceless resource. The evening emergences of bats are an astonishing and unforgettable experience. First, a few creatures trickle out from the cave’s dark entrance, rapidly turning into a vortex of millions of bats rising above the mouth of the cave, appearing as a single organism transcending over the landscape which can be seen for miles. Flocks can climb to nearly 10,000 feet, and cover thousands of square miles over surrounding towns and farms in a night.

Photo MKlitt

Photo Val Ann

By dawn, Bracken’s colony alone will have consumed some 200 tons of flying insects, many of them pests that wreak millions of dollars in damage on the region’s crops. They can eat nearly their own weight in insects in one night.

Bats are not the evil creatures they’ve been labeled by centuries of myths. They are significant to the environment as they keep pests such mosquitoes under control and aid to pollinate scores of crops. But bats should never be handled by anyone unvaccinated as they can carry rabies.

Photo Jen Books

Photo Jen Books

In March and April, expectant females return to the Bracken Cave after over-wintering in Mexico to produce millions of young each year. In late June, a single pup is born unto each female, nearly doubling the cave’s population.

The cave walls become densely packed with pups up to 500 per square foot, where they roost separately from their mothers. Most males roost elsewhere in smaller groups. Before leaving her infant, each mother spends up to an hour getting acquainted with her baby’s scent and vocalizations. When she returns, she accomplishes a remarkable feat to find her own young amongst the millions of others. She will nurse her young at least twice a day.

Pups begin learning to fly after 4 to 5 weeks. On first flight, they can fly at a speed of at least 20 feet per second, turning almost a complete somersault with millimeter precision to land on the cave wall only seconds after taking off. It must avoid several collisions a second with thousands of other pups, relying on a sonar system it’s testing for the first time.

Collisions with other bats or cave walls can be lethal — a crash landing to the floor is certain death, as it’s littered with millions of carnivorous beetles that can diminish a young bat to a cleaned skeleton within minutes. Casualties are high — at least half won’t survive their first year.

Photo MKlitt

By late July, young bats are ready to venture outside the cave to begin feeding on insects. Although they’re weaned shortly after, their initial energy demands are high, forcing nursing mothers to consume more than their body weight in insects a night.

The Bracken Bat Cave needs your help to ensure its future. You can leave a personal legacy of conservation as Charter Land Stewards of the Bracken Bat Cave and Nature Reserve by adopting an acre in honor of your company or as a gift to a loved one, or contact them for information on other unique naming opportunities.

You can help save bats, too! Become a member of BCI to help support their worldwide effort to protect bats and bat habitat. You’ll receive a free gift for joining and a subscription to BATS magazine. You can also adopt a bat, or simply make a general donation.

Bracken Cave Bat Emergence
The amazing show in Bracken Texas where 20 million
Mexican Free-tailed bats emerge nightly to feed.