When you think about large groups of mammals, your mind likely goes to herds of zebras or elephants, or other large land mammals. In reality, the largest group of mammals in the world is actually not of the land or water variety, but the flying kind—specifically, bats. And for those of us in the United States, these critters flock closer to home than you may realize.
The Bat Cave
Bracken Cave Preserve in Central Texas is well-known for being home to the largest colony of bats in the world; this colony is so big, it often shows up on weather maps, like in the below TikTok from meteorologist Sarah Spivey with KSAT news. Spivey also made a TikTok explaining that meteorologists can actually tell the difference between bats and rain on their radar based on the way that the swarm moved and the correlation coefficient differentiating the sizes of bats compared to the rather uniform shape and size of rainfall.
The colony is so large that scientists have to estimate the count, which can be as large as 20 million bats. This is the number that the Guinness Book of World Records has used to officially denote Bracken Cave as the largest Bat colony in the world.
Part of the reason that the population is so large is that many of the bats are pregnant or nursing mothers, who will end up devouring metric tons of insects every evening in order to feed themselves and their families. While not every species of bat migrates, this colony of (mostly) Mexican Free-Tailed bats will roost in the cave from March to September before flying south to Mexico for the winter.
The bats, while considered a nuisance by some, are a natural wonder and tourist attraction that (for the most part) Texas has done a good job at conserving, even designating the Mexican Free-Tailed Bat as the state’s Official Flying Mammal. The Preserve’s official YouTube channel has playlists dedicated to their conservation efforts and to their fight against white-nose syndrome in the caves.
As a Batman fan, I can’t be the only one imagining Texan Bruce Wayne, right? There have been cowboy versions of Batman, DC could certainly do something interesting with Elseworlds. How would Batman change if he had to deal with Texan sun and heat instead of the constantly foggy Gotham?
Other Creatures, Other Caves
That’s not to say that the Bracken Cave preserve only hosts bats; the preserve also highlights their population of snakes and hawks that coexist and/or compete with the bats for resources.
It’s also far from the only cave known for its bat colonies. The Frio Bat Cave in Concan, Texas, and the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico are also well-known for their colonies, which are also of incredible size.
It may not be newsworthy for some, but it is nice to hear at least one population of wild animals is thriving.
What do you think of bats? Overrated, underrated, creepy, or cute? Comment below!
(featured image: jazle/Getty Images)
