Recently, we decided to take an evening visit to the Bat Cave--okay, it's really
an old railroad tunnel, but now it hosts over 3 million bats. These are
Mexican free tailed bats and each evening, near dusk, they emerge
from their safe cool housing to darken the skies for their
evening feeding time.
At the top of the valley, we sat in the viewing stand with other
curious visitors. Knowledgeable volunteers and a Texas park
ranger give us the low down on this species of bats.
In August, the pup has been born, so they will be first out of the
tunnel, flying erratically in an upward spiral to draft off each other.
Swirling, swirling, swirling from the tunnel into the bright
blue sky--It's an awesome sight!
Black lines dot the skyline as the bats continue their
journey up the valley to find a food source and water.
Mexican free-tailed bats are primarily insectivores. They hunt their prey using echolocation. The bats eat moths, beetles, dragonflies, flies, true bugs, wasps, and ants. Bats usually catch flying prey in flight.[9] Large numbers of Mexican free-tailed bats fly hundreds of meters above the ground in Texas to feed on migrating insects.[10]The consumption of insects by these bats can be quite significant.[
Females become sexually mature at about 9 months, while males take even longer, at two years. Females enter estrus once a year, which typically lasts five weeks in the spring. The gestation period of the bat lasts 11–12 weeks, with only one young being born. A number of pups are left in "creches", while their mothers roost elsewhere. The female uses vocalizations and scent to identify her pup. The mother imprints her scent on the young early on.[24] However, young try to steal a suckle from any female that passes through the cluster. A mother will nurse her young daily, and by 4–7 weeks old they are full grown, fully weaned, and independent.[25]
They will journey until their bellies are full--and then they will return
to their home. This could mean 1 AM or 6 AM--
Next time we go, we'll sit in the area near the tunnel entrance--
of course, that means the smell will be worse too!
No comments:
Post a Comment