Two million bats swarm over bridge in Austin, Texas
1,929 次觀看・3 年前
It’s a warm September night here in Austin. We took a short walk over to the Congress Avenue Bridge to see, what has become a major Austin tourist attraction.
The largest urban bat colony in North America live under this bridge in the gaps between the concrete. Two million Mexican free-tailed bats. For some perspective, there are only 900,000 PEOPLE living in Austin.
Every evening from March through September, the bats come out at dusk, forming a black bat-cloud that spirals out into the sky. This nightly bat-feeding was initially met with fear by the locals, but slowly an appreciation developed for these gentle and incredibly sophisticated animals. Now as the sun sets, a crowd of people gather to watch in fascination.
During each nightly foray the bats manage to eat an estimated 30,000 POUNDS of insects, moths, beetles, dragonflies, flies wasps and ants!
This spectacle attracts as many as 100,000 tourists annually and it gives an $8 million economic boost to the city of Austin.
Did you know that Mexican free-tailed bats are widely regarded as one of the most abundant mammals in North America? They are only about 3 1/2 inches long and weigh about .75 oz.
They used to roost in caves and in the halls of trees, but now many bats prefer buildings and other man-made structures. They hunt their prey using echolocation.
Bats are also very efficient pollinators. In fact, their pollination of sugarcane, as well as their consumption of insects damaging to sugarcane, is why Bacardi rum features the Mexican free tailed bat as its icon.
相關影片推薦
- 00940該越跌越買?高勝率ETF投資組合這樣買進擊的荷包72,663 次觀看・1 週前
- 1:35已婚男帶女子住高檔摩鐵 突然猝死妻錯愕|#鏡新聞鏡新聞11,965 次觀看・20 小時前
- 1:28兒媳搶家產 打人 還趕公公出門? 竹北紅布條引熱議東森新聞影音223,489 次觀看・1 天前
- 2:41日本90年代奇葩真人秀 諧星被迫全裸關房間逾一年 20年後紀錄片回顧創傷歷程Yahoo奇摩(國際通)29,140 次觀看・1 天前
- 1:4131歲接家業! 殷琪婚姻兩度觸礁又未婚生子民視影音544,167 次觀看・2 天前
- 1:44「阿姨 妳拿我的雞腿幹嘛」 抓包婦人偷雞腿TVBS新聞網影音57,860 次觀看・1 天前
- 1:0672歲李立群曬照慶祝生日 33歲女兒李元元罕見出鏡娛樂星聞12,873 次觀看・18 小時前
- 7:43台鋼邀請特種搜救隊、搜救犬隊當開球嘉賓中華職棒大聯盟影音8,586 次觀看・21 小時前
- 4:20傅崐萁訪陸帶兩岸紅利 民眾買單國民黨?街訪民眾表態【風向台灣 街訪】風向台灣122,019 次觀看・4 小時前
- 1:25尋生母10年! 戶政事務所牽線意外找到親哥哥民視影音5,604 次觀看・1 天前