Bracken Cave facts for kids
Bracken Cave is an amazing place in Texas where the world's biggest group of bats lives! From March to October, about 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats call this cave home. This makes it the largest known gathering of mammals anywhere.
The cave is found in southern Comal County, Texas, near the city of San Antonio. Its wide, crescent-shaped opening is about 100 feet across. This opening sits at the bottom of a sinkhole. The sinkhole formed when the cave's roof collapsed a long time ago.
Bat Conservation International, a group based in Austin, Texas, owns the cave and over 1,500 acres around it. They work to protect this special area. They help native plants grow and keep the land safe for many kinds of wildlife. Bat Conservation International bought the first part of this land in 1992. Another group, The Nature Conservancy, has also helped protect it.
To keep the bats safe, people cannot just enter the cave. However, Bat Conservation International sometimes offers special evening tours. On these tours, you can watch the millions of bats fly out of the cave at sunset.
Why is Bracken Cave a Bat Super-Home?
Every year, around March or April, over 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) arrive at Bracken Cave. These bats fly a very long way, sometimes up to 1,000 miles, all the way from Mexico!
After they arrive, the mother bats give birth to their babies, called pups. It's incredible to think that up to 500 pups can cling to just one square foot of the cave walls! This clever way of huddling together helps them stay warm.
In 2014, the city of San Antonio, a local builder, and conservation groups made a deal. They agreed to spend $20 million to make sure new buildings would not get too close to the bats. This also helps keep the sky near the cave dark at night, which is important for the bats.
How Bats Help Farmers in Texas
From March to October, the bats at Bracken Cave fly out of the cave each evening. They usually emerge between 6 and 8 p.m. They fly towards the southeast, looking for insects.
These bats eat huge amounts of bugs every night. They especially like cotton bollworm moths and army cutworm moths. These moths are often pushed away from farm crops by the wind.
Research from 2006 showed how helpful these bats are. By eating so many insects, they save cotton farmers in south-central Texas about $740,000 each year! That's a lot of money saved just by bats doing what bats do.
Counting Millions of Bats
Even though we often say there are 20 million bats at Bracken Cave, the exact number is hard to know. It's tough to count so many flying creatures!
An expert named Leonard Ireland studied the bats in the 1960s and 1970s. He once described the clouds of bats leaving the cave as being "30 miles long and 20 miles wide." Imagine seeing that many bats!
