The Bat Volcano of Calakmul, Mexico is not actually a volcano, and it might be more like a tornado, but it’s famously called Volcán de los Murciélagos. In Calakmul, there’s a limestone cave full of almost four million bats made up of eight different species, both insectivores and frugivores. The deep cave is located near or within the protected Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, not far from the Calakmul Mayan Ruins.
Conservation educator and naturalist Phil Torres visited the site as a guest of the Rainforest Alliance to witness their swirling, two hour long emergence into the night. Bats are valuable within their ecosystems for keeping insect populations under control and dispersing fruit seeds across the landscape.
Next: More bat videos, including filming bats with slow motion & thermal cameras, how volunteers hand-raised an orphaned short-tailed fruit bat, and the tube-lipped nectar bat has a crazy-long tongue.
This Webby award-winning video collection exists to help teachers, librarians, and families spark kid wonder and curiosity. TKSST features smarter, more meaningful content than what's usually served up by YouTube's algorithms, and amplifies the creators who make that content.
Curated, kid-friendly, independently-published. Support this mission by becoming a sustaining member today.