Bracken Cave

Well, if you're gonna try to protect them, but I can tell you why they should be protected in a minute.

Uh, the Bracken Cave is the world's largest bat colony.

It's located near San Antonio, Texas.

This is a summer maternity colony for up to 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats, which the Mexican free-tailed bat is also the fastest bat in the world.

So I wanted to go and investigate that scene and explore that terrain.

From there, I traveled to Bracken Cave in Texas, which, as I mentioned, is home to 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats.

It's so densely concentrated, it actually takes three and a half hours for them all to come out of the cave exit every night to go foraging into the surrounding field because there are so many bats in there.

From there, I traveled to Western Europe and followed the Argentine ant super colony.

There's a cave in Texas.

If you don't like bats, do not go anywhere near the Bracken Cave in Texas because it is bat city.

It is home to 20 million bats.

why did they not call it Gotham? Why not? Why did they not call it Gotham Cave?

Um, it's, it's, it's fantastic.

Um, Bracken Cave is a big one.

Uh, you can visit Bracken Cave and see a similar thing with, um, a much larger cave opening and, and lots more bats coming out.

Also Mexican free-tails.

Um, oh, and obviously there is the Austin, um, site.

The most spectacular bat-watching experience in Texas occurs 20 miles east of San Antonio.

Owned by Bat Conservation International, Bracken Cave is home to the largest bat colony in the world, more than 15 million bats, and is one of the largest collections of any mammals on Earth.

The cave entrance is at the bottom of a natural sinkhole, and two chambers extend 650 feet back.

Because they provide vertical drop space, protection from predators, and ideal incubator conditions for pups, such limestone structures often attract bats.

Not surprisingly, the highest concentration of Texas colonies occurs in the limestone caves and sinkholes of the Edwards Plateau.

BCI purchased Bracken Cave and the surrounding 4.7 acres in 1991 and partnered with the Nature Conservancy in 2013.

As a result, both organizations now own and manage almost 3,400 acres of surrounding land.

With the added involvement of the city of San Antonio in 2014, the partnership permanently blocked residential development that would have threatened the bats' flight path and foraging habits.