Explore a bat-inhabited cave with scientists

These are delicate little cave-dwelling bats, weighing less than five grams. They are highly social and will often be found flying around in small groups.

All bats need water, and they drink by swooping and skimming over open water at a high speed. This does sometimes result in them ending up in the drink!

Bat wings are structured from skin stretched between finger bones, they are highly dexterous and manoeuvrable.

Their large ears help them to detect insect prey.

Shown here are bright orange bat ticks on this Bushveld horseshoe bat’s face

These bats feed on beetles so they have large teeth and a strong bite. Watch out for your fingers!

These bats are going to be processed by our team for us to assess their species and health.

Before PIT-tag technologies became available, bats were often marked using wing bands, however, these bands often cause lesions and damage to a bat’s wing and their use has since been discouraged.