Bats & Cave Creatures
Cave creatures are amazing. Because caves are dark, cool, and wet, they’re a tough place to live. Here’s a few of the cave creatures who live at Cave of the Winds, and the ways they survive.
Bats
Not only are bats just too cool for words, they have incredible ways of surviving. First, they eat a lot of insects—about 50% of their body weight every night! If you weighed 50 pounds, that would be like you eating 100 Quarter Pounder hamburgers every night. Plus, they eat the bugs that bug us, like mosquitoes. So don’t let anyone tell you any different: bats are our friends.
Next, they are able to fly in the dark cave and not run into the walls because they use echolocation: think of echo and location, and that’s what they do. Bats send out high-pitched sounds that reflect off an object—like a wall—and that sound returns to the bat’s ears. So the location actually echoes back where it is. Bats can see, but in the dark, this sure works better!
Bats also have tiny, sharp claws that help them hang from the ceiling.
Cave Cricket
Cave crickets don’t have echolocation, but they do have long antennae, which they use to feel around in the dark. They also have long back legs so they can be quick to escape when predators are near.
Cave Spider
Spiders that live in caves can make their webs in cracks, so they’re able to catch mites and flies along the walls and under rocks. Pretty sneaky!
Bear
Don’t worry, we don’t usually have bears in our cave. But bears do live in our area, and they love caves. A bear will use a good cave to hibernate through the coldest part of winter. A bear also has good fur that helps keep it warm and sharp, long claws to dig into the dirt of a cave.
Ringtail Cat
Ringtails have a long, small body so it’s easy for them to enter small cave entrances. They also have large eyes for better vision in the dim light.
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