When it’s time to hunt, the bats of Bracken Cave know what to do.
As the sun sets over the cave, nestled within a 1,500-acre preserve northeast of San Antonio, where suburban development begins to overlap the Texas Hill Country, denizens of the largest bat colony in the world prepare for their nightly foray.
Inside the cave, past a mouth that is a slit in the landscape, an estimated 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats roost, jostling for space in two large chambers. This maternal colony, which migrates to San Antonio each summer, comprises mothers and their pups, born in June following a 90-day gestation period.
On the cave’s floor, guano — the elegant name for bat excrement — is piled at least 75 feet deep. Researchers digging their way through it have yet to hit the bedrock.
The floor teems with beetles that feed on the droppings and have been known to pick the occasional unlucky pup to the bone. The temperature is stifling, hovering over 100 degrees, making it an ideal incubator for baby bats.
Read more at San Antonio Express News
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