World’s largest bat colony, 15-20 million strong, emerges from Texas cave in 360

Also, ride on one of the last iconic WWII bombers and wander through an ancient forest:
• VRtually There | Seaso...
Millions of Mexican free-tailed bats spend the summer in Bracken Cave outside San Antonio, Texas. Watch the astonishing show as the colony emerges for its nightly feast.
Imagine 200 bats hanging from your laptop screen. That's how densely Mexican free-tailed bats pack the walls of Bracken Cave every summer.
Bracken Cave, on the outskirts of San Antonio, is home to the largest known colony of bats in the world. Approximately 15-20 million bats converge there each summer. Witness them fly overhead with VRtually There in the video.
Each spring pregnant female bats migrate to Central Texas where they give birth and raise their young before returning to Mexico in October. With temperatures over 100 degrees, the environment inside the cave acts as a giant incubator for the young bats.
The nursing moms emerge from the cave each night to fly long distances in search of food. They gorge on moths, flying ants, and other crop pests. Their concentration is so dense that the airborne colony looks like a cloud on weather radar screens miles away. The bats collectively consume over 140 tons of insects each night, providing a service to farmers nearby. They return to the cave before sunrise while it’s still dark.
The juveniles spread their wings for the first time when they are around a month old. The flight is a matter of life or death as the floor of the cave is crawling with dermestid beetles, which will devour fallen bats in a matter of minutes. Half of the pups won’t make it to their second birthday. Around August and September, the young start joining their mothers for hunts outside the cave.
Experience the bats emerge for their nightly feast in this incredible natural spectacle in the video above.
Special Thanks
Bat Conservation International: www.batcon.org/
FLIR Systems: www.flir.com/home/
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[@razorhawk9808]

I so want to walk out of that cave in a Batman costume

[@TimTeemo]

Look at all those Zubats!

[@Anthonyvideogame]

And I forgot to buy repel

[@deloresnewman9209]

Loved this video. Thank you. Sharing with my grandchildren.

[@oceanic0809]

Forest: “Dinner for how many?”

[@MattSipka]

Dark knight theme intensifies*

[@ANNESCHOOLER]

Amazing !

[@SixteesixMapping]

When you run out of repels in a cave

[@jovansavanovic3138]

"I'm Batman." Literally.

[@Yafama]

Cool!!

[@dmkays]

I love the 360 degree camera technology used here. Even when I turn my phone straight down, the camera is invisible. I got to have one.

[@tunavis77]

Ozzy Osborne will have a blast in that cave😂

[@jdam2296]

All I'm seeing is 20 million rocks on the ground

[@tommorningstar6373]

Those little guys can gobble up more nasty insects than any quantity of chemicals. The only waste product is bat poop... fertilizer. What's not to love?

[@cloper_coldmail]

Me stopping the video: Za Warudo! Tomae tokiwo!

[@kndrdfndindngoudng]

Just think of how many plagues exist in that cave.

[@robertcalamusso4218]

Fabulous

[@argus4650]

Imagine the guano reserves that could be exploited

[@islandvibez]

You are the reason why there are weird diseases like Ebola and Coronavirus and Rabies and Marburg and a sh*t ton of other diseases.

[@argus4650]

I would never eat a bat and I think the droppings that are sold commercially are sterilized in oven so all thats left is the nutrients

[@timothyball7502]

I would love to see American Jets move as these bats move, amazed---YES! 12-24-2021

[@science617]

WOW!!!!

[@howiseeit5129]

140 tonnes of insects eaten per night! Take that mosquitos and flies!

[@princeobi-wan8578]

1 of these bats are late for the spurs game

[@bobthompson4319]

How much guano is in there? Alot I bet. I wonder if you can get the guano out without any harm and then sell it and use the money to help them and other bats

[@lindarichmond3199]

Has the WMS disease hit the Bracken cave yet?

[@christopherworthington4619]

I didnt even know 15 million bats existed

[@jeffwiseman3840]

There are so many isolated places that are so thick with flies and mosquitos… I am thinking of northern Canada, from my own experience, yet it seems as though the number of predators who would be needed to bring some kind of equilibrium are just not there. I’m wondering why evolution would not have introduced more predators in those situations.

[@amethyst463]

wow

[@yiannimil1]

The BEST Virus delivery system in the world

[@bobthompson4319]

Did any run in to you? I'm going to bet no? Because they are that good.

[@yiannimil1]

Only when delivering the virus

[@MariaHerrera-qo1fw]

This looks like a sand storm wow now it raining rocks take shelterrr

[@Versuffe]

Oh god. Not the -corona- virus! ):

[@maryannpallitto-warnick2208]

Cool -AC 360 THATS A SHOW HOSTED BY WHO YOU KNOW?

[@COOPERSCICHILDS]

👍🏿👀👀👀

[@jeffrey379]

m lmn

[@natecote1971]

Lots of poop

[@jacquiemiller5728]

The resonant frown exemplarily chew because temple substantially pick minus a threatening police. silky, present basket

[@amerramday]

This cave is full of rabies.

[@howiseeit5129]

Less then 99.9% carry it.

[@Quicksilver_Cookie]

@@howiseeit5129 So, 99.8 potentially? Which is almost all of them? I suppose it meant to be "less than 0.1% carry it". But even if it's the case(actual numbers are much higher) that's still 15000 infected bats. And that's going with a lower approximate of this colony population, and your number which is totally made up. Realistically number of bats with rabies in this colony is upwards of 100000.

[@howiseeit5129]

Amazing!!!