Infrared Video of 500,000 Bats Emerging From Cave

Bats use echolocation to see in the dark, but unfortunately human scientists cannot do the same.

That poses a problem for ecologists who want to know, for example, how many Brazilian free-tailed bats live in the Carlsbad Caverns of New Mexico. Researchers can’t shine a light on them because that disrupts their behavior, but they can’t see them without light. The answer? Infrared cameras.

By installing infrared sensors, scientists were able to study the bat colonies in great detail from less than 50 feet away. The above video shows the infrared camera capturing a half million bats emerging from the cave to feed at night.

Original article here.