The Wildlife Department is pausing public visits to view Mexican free-tailed bats emerging from summer maternity cave.
The Wildlife Department conserves the area’s healthy population of Mexican free-tailed bats and their sensitive habitat at the Selman Bat Cave. The migratory bats arrive in the state in spring, and pregnant females navigate to Selman Bat Cave or one of the state’s three other known maternity caves where they each give birth to one pup. The bats emerge at dusk to feed on flying insects and may forage up to 50 miles from the cave before returning at dawn. Due to the sensitive nature of the bat cave, visitors aren't allowed onsite to keep human disturbance of this important habitat to a minimum. The Wildlife Department bought Selman Bat Cave and the surrounding 340 acres of land in 1995 with funds donated to the Wildlife Diversity Program and from hunting and fishing license revenue.