In this photo, things are pretty crowded. It is a maternity colony of Lesser Antillean Fruit Bats, as seen in the Grotte du Puits de Terres Basses in the Lowlands. In this cave, maternity colonies can be seen seasonally in the round depressions in the ceiling of the cave. I believe these depressions are caused naturally by erosion from water seeping through. Mothers (the big furry ones) and babies (the little pink ones) cluster together. During the day, mothers and children are in the colony together, at night, the mothers leave to forage, but they always leave a babysitter in charge of the pups.
If you don’t have a copy of The Incomplete Guide to the Wildlife of St. Martin, you can download a PDF of the entire first edition for free here.
If you don’t already know, the all-new second edition of the book is almost complete. There are a couple fundraising projects to finance the printing of the book and to subsidize copies of the book for schools, libraries and other public institutions and to fund presentations and other events for schools and the general public.
If you like this page, and want to help share St. Martin’s amazing wildlife with more people, particularly the youth of St. Martin, please contribute to these projects. Even if it is just $5, you will be thanked as a supporter in the new book. I think every child on St. Martin should have the opportunity to learn about the wildlife of their island. If you agree, it’s really easy to make that happen. Visit one of these links and make a contribution today:
Kickstarter Project to Fund Book Printing
Books for Schools Project
