When engineers reconstructed downtown Austin's Congress Avenue Bridge in 1980 they had no idea that new crevices beneath the bridge would make an ideal bat roost. Although bats had lived there for years, it was headline news when they suddenly began moving in by the thousands. Reacting in fear and ignorance, many people petitioned to have the bat colony eradicated.
As the city came to appreciate its bats, the population under the Congress Avenue Bridge grew to be the largest urban bat colony in North America. With up to 1.5 million bats spiraling into the summer skies, Austin now has one of the most unusual and fascinating tourist attractions anywhere.
1 comment:
The colony in Austin is really cool but the largest bat colony actually doesn't live in Austin. It lives in Bracken Cave, which is just outside of the city limits of San Antonio. In summer this cave has over 20 million bats. It's not open to the public but I've been there a lot of times. You can read about Bracken cave at www.batcon.org
Bats are very kewl.
wildly,
chance
www.chanceruder.com
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