This shot of millions of bats streaming into the sky is fearsome.
The Horrifying Spectacle Of Three Million Bats Going Night Hunting
By
Editorial Staff in
Nature
On 12th January 2016
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#1 Every night, an estimated population of 3 millions bats exit their cave, among the biggest in the world, to go night hunting in the rainforest of Mulu National Park, in Borneo, Malaysia.
#2 Avoiding attacks from birds of prey, the bats fly in spectacular formations, offering another wonder from nature.
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#3 Bats are fascinating creatures—both from the point of scientific research and their place in the canon of the horror genre as spooky creatures of the night. So whether you’re a science person or a horror person, this shot of millions of bats streaming into the sky is either great, or great and fearsome.
#4 It’s sort of like watching ribbons undulating in the wind, until you realize that the ribbons are actually made up of millions of hungry bats. Which, like I said, is both an amazing sight and one that might send a chill down your spine.
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#5 This native to the park finds a bat hidden in the bamboo trees and will cook it for dinner. The local population sees the bats as a nuisance and as food.
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#6 However, the population, known to be the largest in the world, keeps many diseases at bay, including feasting on the mosquitos that carry malaria, dengue fever and japanese encephalitis. But they carry many diseases as well and that hurts the hunters who catch the bitten animals.
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#7 The bat guano, urine, and waste in the Mulu cave is over 14 feet deep, and is disease ridden and carries everything from rabies to histoplasmosis, and less studied tropical diseases.
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#8 The caves are also home to swiftlets, a type of bird whose nests have been harvested at Gomantong for about three centuries, as a delicacy. But it's the nightly flight of the 3 million bats that get all the attention.
