BCI and Jamaican communities work together to protect some of the world’s most endangered bats.
11.21.24
By Alyson Brokaw
Hiking uphill in sticky, humid weather before descending into an even hotter and stickier cave, all while hauling heavy camera equipment, certainly sets the scene for an adventurer seeking a challenge. However, if you are filmmaker Chris Gallaway, it’s not just the bugs, the mud, and the humidity you are worried about ̶ it’s also protecting your equipment from the rain of bat poop from the roughly two million bats who call that cave home.
Gallaway is an independent filmmaker and founder/director of Horizonline Pictures. Based out of Black Mountain, North Carolina, he is drawn to stories of creativity, culture, conservation, and outdoor adventure ̶ and takes a quiet, patient approach to filmmaking. In 2023, he worked with BCI to produce a film series about Bats and Agave.
Over the past year, Gallaway and his crew have been following BCI’s team of scientists as they work to protect and conserve the world’s most threatened bats. First stop was St. Clair Cave, nestled in the heart of Jamaica.
Jamaica is home to 21 species of bats, 5 of which are endemic (found only in Jamaica). St. Clair Cave alone shelters at least 10 bat species, including mustached bats, ghost-faced bats, leaf-faced bats, and the critically endangered Jamaica greater funnel-eared bat (Natalus jamaicensis). This cave is the only known location for the Jamaican greater-funnel eared bat, with records only coming from genetics and museum specimens. Unfortunately, with less than 100 estimated individuals left, finding one in the cave is like finding a needle in a haystack (or more like finding one bat in an emergence of millions of bats). “That reality was a bit of a wake-up call,” says Gallaway, underscoring the urgency of protecting these fragile cave systems to ensure the survival of these threatened species.
One of the biggest threats to the bats at St. Clair Cave (and other caves in Jamaica) are feral cats. Feral cats don’t only pose a risk to Jamaican bats, but to bats worldwide. Globally, at least 86 species of bats have been reported killed by cats, though these observations are thought to be underreported. Of these species, a disproportionate number of them are found on islands (like Jamaica) and at least a quarter of them are considered Threatened or Near Threatened by the IUCN Red List. In partnership with the Polly Ground community and the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), BCI has been installing predator-exclusion fencing around the cave entrances that will help keep cats out and provide the bats living in the cave a little more safety from predators.
St. Clair Cave is classified as a “hot cave,” meaning it reaches extreme temperatures and humidity levels, often over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Naturalists in the 1950s described Inferno Passage — one of its main chambers — as “a Stygian sauna bath…filled with a rain of bat urine and excrement.” The cave was once a primary breeding site for the Jamaican Flower Bat (Phyllonycteris aphylla) but, in the 1990s, the species mysteriously vanished from its known roosting sites (including St. Clair Cave), leading researchers to believe it extinct.
The Jamaican National Environment and Planning Agency rediscovered the species in 2010 in a new location: Stony Hill Cave. Recognizing the risks to Stony Hill Cave from developers, Jamaican authorities reached out to BCI about the urgency to protect this important bat roost. Stony Hill Cave is smaller and less complex than St Clair Cave, consisting of one Y-shaped chamber where the bats can be found roosting. This relatively simple topography means even small changes in airflow could alter the temperatures and make the cave less hospitable to the heat-loving flower bats. In collaboration with the Jamaican Natural Resources Conservation Agency and NEPA, BCI successively purchased the land around the cave in 2022, helping to safeguard this critical habitat and secure the future of the Jamaican flower bats that call it home.
Communities like Polly Ground have truly embraced the task of conserving their local bats, becoming conservationists in their own ways. This spirit of collaboration is at the heart of BCI’s mission.
While filming at Stony Hill Cave, Gallaway said he was completely charmed by the Jamaican flower bat. To get some of those stunning, close-up shots of the bat, one of the individuals captured by the scientists was placed into a flight box for filming. Laughing a bit, Gallaway reflects on how he at first thought the bat would be really docile, before remembering that they are nectar-feeders who basically live on sugar water and are actually quite hyper-active. Luckily with the magic of slow-motion capture, they were still able to capture close-ups of this beautiful and rare bat, a privilege Gallaway is grateful to have experienced.
When asked about his experience, Gallaway gives most of the credit to the BCI team and the Jamaican communities who are making these conservation projects possible. Communities like Polly Ground have truly embraced the task of conserving their local bats, becoming conservationists in their own ways. This spirit of collaboration is at the heart of BCI’s mission: building lasting connections that strengthen conservation through shared goals and understanding.
