Mexico's Bat Man is Fighting to Protect Them Ari Daniel Shapiro - The World
go to original February 5, 2013

Rodrigo Medellin at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. (Ari Daniel Shapiro)

Bats often get a bad rap, but they are important to natural ecosystems and to humans. A biologist in Mexico is trying to convince his countrymen to protect bats, and he is training a new generation of researchers to look after the animals.

It is not uncommon for Rodrigo Medellin to start his day at night. At the moment, he has a headlamp switched on and is walking into the Cueva del Diablo – the Devil’s Cave – near Tepoztlán, Mexico.

Suddenly, Medellin stops. The ceiling of the cave, just eight feet above his head, is furry and moving. “There’s a lot of Mexican long-nosed bats over here,” he says.

About 2,000 Mexican long-nosed bats are making soft, high-pitched noises. But looking up at a colony like this is just asking for trouble.

Medellin grimaces. “Ffffft! I’m getting pee on my eyes.” He turns away to clear his eyes. But, before long, he looks up again and points. “They’re mating,” he says. “Just look at pairs forming. A male is grabbing a female from behind.”

Medellin is a biologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and he has been coming to this cave for three decades. It was just a few years ago that he and his students first saw Mexican long-nosed bats mating here, or anywhere.

Read the whole story at PRI's The World

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