Bat City

In 1980, downtown Austin’s Ann Richards bridge was rebuilt using concrete box beams that inadvertently provided crevices that were ideal “artificial caves” for a rapidly growing maternal colony of Mexican free-tailed bats. By 1984, Austinites’ fears of rabies and attacks had grown, and cries for eradication had become louder. In 1986, Merlin Tuttle, a biologist and director of Bat Conservation International, moved to town, and launched an education campaign successfully showing that the bats were valuable insect-eaters, largely harmless to humans. The bridge now hosts what may be the world’s largest urban bat colony, providing both an example of human/wildlife coexistence and a major tourist draw.