Current:Home > ScamsGoing to bat for bats-InfoLens
Going to bat for bats
View Date:2024-12-23 14:25:46
Deep in the heart of Texas, deep inside a cave, millions and millions of Mexican free-tailed bats roost together. One square foot of the cave's ceiling can contain more than 500 of them. When it comes to bat colonies, it turns out everything really IS bigger in Texas.
Bracken Cave Preserve, located just outside San Antonio, is home to the largest colony of bats in the world. "We have somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats," said Fran Hutchins, director of Bat Conservation International.
Bats can be found all throughout the Lone Star State – the ones that roost under the South Congress Bridge in Austin have even become a tourist attraction.
But there's nothing quite like Bracken. When a vortex-full of bats emerges from the cave to feed each evening, the resulting "batnado" is so massive it shows up on doppler radar. They're headed out to surrounding fields to spend the night feasting on insects that feast on crops like corn and cotton. Bats are a natural form of pest control.
"Farmers love bats," said Hutchins.
But the rest of the world doesn't necessarily. "They're not sure about bats," Hutchins suggested. "[For] a lot of people, what they know about bats is whatever horror movie they saw last."
In pop culture, bats are depicted as terrifying bloodsuckers. Even Batman himself is afraid of bats! But one wealthy Texas entrepreneur fell in love with the Bracken bats, inspiring him to pull a Bruce Wayne and build his own bat cave.
David Bamberger co-founded the fast-food chain Church's Texas Chicken. In the late 1990s, concerned about threats to the bats' natural habitat elsewhere in Texas, Bamberger built a giant cave on his sprawling ranch Selah, near Johnson City.
For a long time, no bats showed up.
The millionaire who'd gone batty was big news at the time. CBS News' Jim Axelrod interviewed him in 1999, after Bamberger had sunk $175,000 into his empty bat cave.
The cave was a colossal flop – until one night, when Bamberger heard the flapping of thousands of tiny wings: "Bats were pouring out of there by the thousands," he said. "Tears were running down my face. Oh, I'm so happy!"
Today, Bamberger's cave, which he's dubbed the "chiroptorium" (bats are members of the order chiroptera, meaning "hand wing"), is home to a couple hundred thousand bats, part of his larger conservation-focused preserve. It's impressive … romantic, even.
Joanna Bamberger recalled her first date when she was asked, "Would you care to come and see my bat cave?"
What's a gal say to that? "At my age, I've had every come-on in my life, but I've never been asked to see a bat cave before," she laughed.
David Bamberger is a 95-year-old newlywed; he married Joanna Rees Bamberger earlier this year. The two still come out to see the bats most evenings. "You sit there absolutely agog, because it's just wonderful to look at," she said.
Looking at the faces of high schoolers on a field trip to Bracken Cave, you don't see fear; you see awe.
Hutchins said, "The fun part is watching people that have never seen a bat fly or a bat this close. It can be very emotional for some people."
The majority of these Mexican free-tailed bats will be back in Mexico soon to spend the winter. They won't return to Texas to have their babies until sometime next spring, when they will continue to delight instead of fright.
For more info:
- Bracken Cave Preserve, San Antonio (Bat Conservation International)
- Selah: Bamberger Ranch Preserve, Johnson City, Texas
Story produced by Dustin Stephens. Editor: Lauren Barnello.
See also:
- Nature up close: The largest bat colony in the world ("Sunday Morning")
- Behind the scenes: Filming bats ("Sunday Morning")
- U.S. bat species devastated by fungus now listed as endangered
- The facts you didn't know about BATS! ("Sunday Morning")
veryGood! (37)
Related
- Kentucky officer reprimanded for firing non-lethal rounds in 2020 protests under investigation again
- Hungary says it will provide free tickets to Brussels for migrants trying to enter the EU
- Jennifer Lopez Requests to Change Her Last Name Amid Ben Affleck Divorce
- Taylor Swift, her ex Taylor Lautner and an unlikely, eye-catching friendship
- Indiana in the top five of the College Football Playoff rankings? You've got to be kidding
- How Teen Mom's Cory Wharton and Cheyenne Floyd Reacted When Daughter Ryder, 7, Was Called the N-Word
- Who's performed at the DNC? Lil Jon, Patti LaBelle, Stevie Wonder, more hit the stage
- Gunmen open fire on a school van in Pakistan’s Punjab province, killing 2 children
- NATO’s Rutte calls for more Western support for Ukraine, warns of Russian alliances
- Tennis Star Aryna Sabalenka Details Mental Health Struggles After Ex Konstantin Koltsov's Death
Ranking
- Judith Jamison, a dancer both eloquent and elegant, led Ailey troupe to success over two decades
- Coldplay perform Taylor Swift song in Vienna after thwarted terrorist plot
- Viral video captures bottlenose dolphins rocketing high through the air: Watch
- A big Social Security shake-up is coming in 2025. Are you prepared?
- Gun groups sue to overturn Maine’s new three-day waiting period to buy firearms
- Biden promised to clean up heavily polluted communities. Here is how advocates say he did
- Weeks after blistering Georgia’s GOP governor, Donald Trump warms to Brian Kemp
- FACT FOCUS: A look back at false and misleading claims made during the the Democratic convention
Recommendation
-
Democrat Cleo Fields wins re-drawn Louisiana congressional district, flipping red seat blue
-
Sicily Yacht Tragedy: All 6 Missing Passengers Confirmed Dead as Last Body Is Recovered
-
Caitlin Clark's next game: Indiana Fever at Minnesota Lynx on Saturday
-
These Lululemon Finds Have Align Leggings for $59 Plus More Styles Under $60 That Have Reviewers Obsessed
-
Inflation ticked up in October, CPI report shows. What happens next with interest rates?
-
Ex-Congressional candidate and FTX executive’s romantic partner indicted on campaign finance charges
-
With their massive resources, corporations could be champions of racial equity but often waiver
-
Police misconduct indictments cause a Georgia prosecutor to drop charges in three murder cases