'Animal,' Episode 6: Bats

hey it's Michael today we have something. really special for you a blissful break. from the news it's a new series from nyt. audio called animal my colleague Sam. Anderson from the Times magazine. traveled the world to have encounters. with animals not to claim them or to. tame them but just to appreciate them. each episode is a journey to get closer. to a creature that Sam loves loves for.

the next 6 weeks we'll be running this. limited series every Sunday here on the. daily feed but if you want to hear all. the episodes right now you can search. for it wherever you get your podcasts. today our final episode episode 6 hope. you enjoy. it one of the very worst things I've. ever read in my whole entire life is. this poem by DH Lawrence here I'll read.

it called Bat at evening sitting on this. Terrace he's in Florence when the sun. from the West Beyond Pisa beyond the. mountains of kurara departs and the. world is taken by surprise DH Lawrence. actually wrote some really great poems. about animals about goats and elephants. and even snakes swallows gave way to. bats but something about bats just. breaks his brain bats and an uneasy. creeping in one's scalp as the bats.

swoop overhead this poem is 100% trash. talking these creatures that disgust him. bats creatures that hang themselves up. like an Old Rag to sleep and the poem. ends with the dumbest ending I've ever. encountered in the work of a major. writer in China the bat is symbol for. happiness not for me exclamation point. from The New York Times this is animal.

I'm Sam Anderson episode 6 bats bats I. hate I hate those. things dumb poem I mean for a little. context D lawen I'm reading this stupid. poem in a rental car hurtling forward. into the jungles of Mexico there's a. fear of having a bat stuck in your hair. and driving the car is my dear wonderful. friend Allan one of my favorite animals. on Earth why is like a thing like they.

squeak out he's actually the one who. introduced me to This Bat poem in the. first place I hate it not for me Allan. and I met in our 20s When We Were Young. and innocent and had beautiful fluffy. hair is true that you and I have known. each other for. 22 years but a lot has happened since. then there have been births and deaths. and all kinds of Big Life Changes now. Allan and I live on opposite coasts but.

we're still always talking to each other. about everything including our dream of. taking this big trip together to Mexico. to Mexico which is where Allan is from. go down to. ucatan and now we are here on that trip. in the Yucatan one of the most epic. places on Earth Madness this is the. place where the asteroid that killed the. dinosaurs hit that happened like right.

near here where Maya civilization Rose. and fell ality of Mayan culture is Art. all of it is Art and now it's this wild. explosion of biodiversity I mean look to. your right as you can see it's like just. lizards toucans and monkeys and jaguars. and. manatees manatees you haven't seen but. you'll you'll see like you'll see it's. all animals I would love to spend time. with but that's not why we're here.

we have come to the Yucatan to meet an. animal that I do not particularly want. to spend time with the bat yeah this is. because my attitude toward bats is. pretty close to DH Lawrence's I am. slightly embarrassed to admit they're. not for me we are all driving into the. unknown together we're like we're here. for the. fat it's a pretty uncomfortable place to. be and I do sort of Family actually.

likes to make fun of me for being afraid. of bats yeah there's a famous story in. my family at the time because one time a. bat flew into a room I was in and I. allegedly screamed and shoved my. mother-in-law out of the way pushed her. out of the way allegedly and just ran. went running out of but in my defense. it's not just me bats are spooky like. famously spooky they live in the dark. they can carry diseases they bite if you.

want to turn a normal house into a. haunted house you can just put some bats. on it all the others I was very drawn to. all of those creatures and this is the. first one that I will run away screaming. from so why are we going to see it. because of that no yeah because of that. but I didn't want to feel this way I. wanted to want to understand bats I. wanted to get close to them and not run. away screaming I wanted to give them the.

respect and curiosity that I have for. all the rest of the animal. kingdom but how are you supposed to get. to know a. bat okay well you find someone who knows. the bats I meet you how are you and that. person is Rodrigo medin Sam very good to. meet you guys okay so so Allan and I.

along with my colleague Caitlyn Roberts. meet up with Rodrigo and his Bat team in. the lobby of a very Pink hotel in the. Tiny Town of shoil we just order. something to eat which is in one of the. more jungly parts of the Yucatan. Peninsula down south near the border. with Guatemala so the students that we. have here I have three students here an. is starting Rodrigo is a professor of. ecology at UNAM the big university in. Mexico City aier who is gathering his.

data for his thesis he and his students. have been studying the bats of the. Yucatan for years so we're going to take. them out we're going to process them. which means measure weigh see the in the. nature World especially in the Bat World. Rodrigo is a real celebrity he's. actually famous for helping to save a. whole species of bat from the brink of. Extinction it's called the Lesser. long-nosed bat they and they destroy and. he's agreed to let us tag along with him.

and his students while they do their bat. work this week we know more about and. while we're all sitting around chatting. getting to know each other who's this on. your lock screen of your phone I noticed. the photo on the lock screen of. Rodrigo's phone this is vampir Spectrum. the biggest the biggest bat in the. continent and the biggest carnivorous. bat of the world how. big what it's body and how wide its. wings what what no almost a meter it is.

terrifying if you've ever had a. nightmare about a bat this is probably. what you saw it has huge veiny ears and. Beady black eyes and this long snout. full of murder teeth I imagine bats. always just eating like little. mosquitoes not these guys when they bite. you you really feel the bite its body is. like the size of a small dog and its. wingspan is like a hawk yeah and and it.

is a hawk because the wings are very. Broad and he's very maneuverable a. little question are bats social animals. and it's clear that Rodrigo just lives. for bats he gets so excited telling us. about this big freaky bat and not just. that bat he's excited about every bat on. Earth and he wants to tell us about all. of them and then he comes back land on. top of the females and he salts them.

what they eat where they live how they. make part of that disgusting mix that he. has in in his sack fall on the females. he's marking his females that way what. the. hell bats are gross I'm sorry guys oh oh. my God I'm going to I'm going to tell. you. [Music].

can you tell me why you are not. terrified of. bats I would trade you and ask you why. are you terrified of bats I don't get it. when people are terrified of bats I. really don't you never screamed and run. away from a bat me absolutely not never. never never never Rodrigo isn't only a. bat scientist he is a bat evangelist I. started my first Bot game into my hands. when I was years old what is that do the.

maap it all started when he was a tiny. little kid he loved animals he says the. first word he ever said was Flamingo he. told us he pronounced it glingo or. something like that and he was actually. kind of a prodigy Rodrigo knew so much. about animals that he ended up on this. famous Prime Time game show in Mexico. called elran Premo de centa iatro mil. pesos the 64,000 peso grand prize and so.

this little kid is on prime time TV. answering every question they could. throw at him about animals and a biology. Professor from UNAM was watching and he. invited Rodrigo to come out with him. into the field so little Rodrigo ends up. going out with Scientists to study all. kinds of animals and eventually one of. them takes him into a. cave and this is when Rodrigo medin.

holds his very first bat he told us that. the moment shook him inside and he. suddenly understood why he was here on. Earth to protect and advocate for bats. which is what he's been doing ever since. so originally the image of bats was. positive according to Rodrigo bats are. not only not disgusting or dangerous. they are beautiful and smart and because.

they play a crucial role in pest control. and pollinating and dispersing seeds. they're also good for the world but then. something happened that made it negative. what was that basically they're just. victims of bad PR Dracula which is an. amazing novel it's a you know Dracula. and vampires and stuff it's an unfair. World. seriously and it really is an unfair. world like many animals on Earth right. now bats are in trouble not only for the.

usual reasons like habitat loss and. climate change but for special problems. all their own there are devastating. diseases and they get annihilated by the. big turbines at wind. farms and there's also this issue of the. bad PR people like me are afraid of bats. because of the whole Flappy spooky bitey. thing which is then used as an excuse to. do all kinds of violent horrible things.

to them people poison them or seal them. up in caves or even burn them. alive but it wasn't always this way. especially not here in the Yucatan in. pre- Colombian times B had a very. positive image you see the. archaeological remains Pottery temples. Etc you are going to find BS represented. in the culture of the Maya this ancient. civiliz a that thrived here for.

thousands of years bats are. everywhere in stories in paintings POS. they even had a month called zots the. month of zots roughly. coincides with the month of October. which is the month of happiness and. wealth and abundance because it's the. month of harvest and in Maya mythology. bats represent a living link between our. world and the underworld death basically.

your soul goes to rest after you're dead. and bats help you get there the Maya. called the underworld shalba or the. place of fear which if you ask me bats. are a perfect mascot for a place like. that okay huh all right so we're we're. doing this show about animals and every. animal we've gone to has been something. that I love and feel drawn to and the.

bat is the first that I'm not drawn to. that I scream from and I run away from. you are not going to run away from bats. after we're done in this trip okay I'm. open to it oh I'll convert you I'm. absolutely convinced of that a. conversion story okay let's try all. right for the breakfast. [Music].

hole even the potholes have potholes. Allan and Caitlyn and I follow Rodrigo. and his students down the most poth holy. Road I've ever been on the underworld. trying to open up yeah I like it into. the jungle which is just overwhelmingly. dense it's like a solid block of trees. and Vines and apparently inside of it.

somewhere is a Maya ruin called el origo. where bats live I'm just like a 10. excitement 10 well no there is like an. animal part of me that is screaming and. running away right now even as we go. there these are bats that Rodrigo and. his team have been studying for years. and today they're going to check up on. them catch them and tag them and record. a bunch of data. [Music]. whoa it's so big the temple is.

magnificent I've never seen anything. like. it it's this crumbling structure built. out of white Limestone roughly 1500. years ago okay come and let me show you. covered with ornate. carvings if you look at the at the. temple from this and the front door. looks like a giant mouth with huge Stone. fangs so when you go inside it's like. you're being swallowed you look just. above and you can see the teeth of the J. were coming down Rodrigo leads us up.

these ancient stone steps past a no. trespassing sign right to this very dark. and intimidating hole in the stone about. waist. high yeah putting two glove one I'm. putting two gloves on because the bite. of these bat is really something out of. the scale and then Rodrigo and his. students get all geared up ready they. put on headlamps and grab these long. handled Nets. and they stoop down see you and.

disappear into the. darkness I'm actually helping hold up a. tarp against the opening so the bats. can't. escape and after a little while looking. very dusty and sweaty we got a total of. five buts Rodrigo and his students pop. back out one fale big pup I cannot. believe that that mother is even flying. in here he's so excited he's out of.

breath because he's found his bats and. he and his students are holding them in. these bags these checkered cloth bags. they look like they're made out of. tablecloths from an Italian restaurant. and the bags are all swinging and. flopping around thank you okay let's go. and they carry these bags outside the. temple back down the steps to where. they' set up a little Science Station. out on a folding table so we're going to. process them but I want to process first.

and foremost the mother and he's so. excited he tells us this is a bat he's. named Big Mama she's probably p and. she's probably big mama okay she knows a. drill she Rodrigo grabs one of the. squiggling bat bags and very tenderly he. reaches in and he pulls out the first. bat but I'm going to. wait I have to say even if you are a bat. lover this is a strange looking creature. it's called a woolly false vampire bat.

big teeth big ears big eyes and a big no. slea it's got fuzzy brown fur and this. sort of tall Pig snout called a nose. Leaf if they have this nose leaf that. means that they can carry the food in. their mouth Rodrigo told us this is so. they can echolocate while their mouths. are full they can fly around with a big. rat or a mango in their mouth and still. shoot these nois out of their nose Leaf.

so they can fly through the jungle. without smashing into trees so if you. look at the nose Leaf like that it's a. perfect segment of a parable oh yeah. it's very directional it's very easily. directed by the backat the bat team. weighs the bat and measures its. wingspan and they punch out a little. tissue sample from its wing ow and. Rodrigo puts it back in the. bag and then one by one he pulls the.

other bats out of their bags and the. whole time they keep biting the crap out. of them don't bite me don't bite me and. he does not seem to mind at all he just. loves these bats so. much blood is that your blood or its. blood I think it's mine I'm standing at. a distance and I'm freaked out but also. fascinated and then so this is the baby. out of one of the B.

Rodrigo pulls out his boy a baby bat. here's a boy. oh my God it's so cute it's so freaking. cute it's fresh and fuzzy look at the. milk it has little pink feet in the. stomach what and Rodrigo flips it over. to show us that you can see through the. baby bat's pink belly. skin milk in its stomach that it's been. nursing from its mother oh there it is.

because these bats are part of a little. family they're a family of. bats wow big mama's baby and seeing all. this just unlocks my general feeling of. love for all animals these bats suddenly. seem vulnerable and out of their. elements let's take them all and put. them in the shade in the Temple and so. when Rodrigo and his students climb back. into that dark hole and put the bats.

back into their Temple I see the. darkness a little. differently it's not only a horrifying. void of death it's also just where the. bats are big mama and her fuzzy little. family it's actually not even dark to. the bats I mean yes it's littered with. bones and guano and severed mouse tails. but it's their home and I'm kind of. curious now I can almost maybe sort of.

Imagine going in there myself into the. bats world to see the darkness with my. own. [Music]. eyes maybe. [Music]. tomorrow maybe.

did they miss the turn no is that. them them what's happening we're on our. way to visit another bat Roost with. Rodrigo at a temple called okal Wheats. is there fire up there and on the drive. there we see a small. fire where patches of the Jungle are. being cleared there's tractors and white. dust. everywhere they cleared a huge amount of. trees and what we're seeing is a. gigantic project that's going to change.

the Yucatan forever it's called train. Maya this railroad that will Circle the. whole Peninsula right through the. Wilderness clearcut and leveled breaking. up habitats and supercharging. development perspective of the people. ofi the whole thing is very. controversial Allan told me that it's. creating a lot of jobs it's really. helping the Yucatan economy it's hard to. understand from a Rodrigo is worried. about the impact of all this on the.

wildlife here especially of course the. bats have that here uhoh aier doesn't. know where he's. going we follow Rodrigo off the main. road deep into the jungle and then we. hike it's so hot right now it's like a. million and a half de SPID monkeys but. then we see it wow the temple 600 years. of Abandonment this one is even more.

ruined than the first one there are. jungle plants growing right out of the. stones it feels secluded and totally. abandoned it's like we've slipped into. some secret back pocket of the. universe this is the Temple of ok. Vitz and as you can see a whole wall of. the temple is missing but the BS love it. here it's. um shadowed it's protected it's.

cool it's beyond the reach of any. predator so they love it here we all. take turns peeking in there through an. old doorway Whispering so we don't. bother the bats okay I'm going into the. bat temple with the Allen the bats are. up in a high corner they're just a. cluster of dark shapes hanging upside. down against the gray stone what is this.

Temple I don't think anybody knows. them who's. here I don't know where are they. now they're dead and. gone see the. ears do you think they're echolocating. us I I know they're echolocating maybe. oh look those two in the back on the on. the left here. they're getting very very close together.

they're clinging to each. other I think they love each. other like we feel an affection a mammal. affection attached to each other and. they depend on each other for their. survival beyond that I cannot tell you. that they love each other. yeah do you think I could stand in here. while you catch the. Vats yeah.

yeah I kind of can't believe I just. asked to stay in here we'll sit you. there okay because the bats are calm. right now but once Rodrigo starts trying. to catch them some of them may land on. you okay they will not be calm you okay. with that seriously seriously and even. though I've seen some cute bats now I am. still very afraid of them yeah that's. with a test is that part of progress can. we call that progress oh my God that. would be Inc but I think just being.

around. Rodrigo and his love for bats it has. made me curious and that Curiosity for. this one moment just barely outweighed. my fear if they land on you just don't. move don't scream and run don't scream. and run no screaming no no no no. no get him off get him off no nothing. like that.

okay Rodrigo sits me down on this pile. of rubble at the back of the. chamber and the students outside WRA the. whole chamber up in tarps so we're. sealed in even if I wanted to run away. screaming I couldn't I'm stuck here. until Rodrigo is done and it is dark. it's cool and musty and it smells like. ancient stone okay wa. but after a minute my eyes start to.

adjust and I can just barely see the. bats up in the corner these dark shapes. against the. ceiling I see Rodrigo kind of sneak over. and reach up his long. net and try to catch a bat and that's. when the motion starts the bat motion. the flitting and darting you know bat. stuff the bats are flying around like. nightmare. confetti I'm scared and I'm just sitting. here frozen trying to stay calm.

dissociating and I found myself thinking. weirdly of my. father because I realized I was sitting. in this dark bat chamber and I was. wearing my dad's socks which I inherited. when he died and I remembered this flash. of a memory from when I was a kid it was. the first time I ever saw a bat in my. life after my parents got divorced my.

dad used to love to take us to caves. when he had us for the weekend or. something he would take us on tours or. exploring on our own it was kind of our. special place outside of the normal. world and I remembered being maybe 5. years old and deep in this cave when. suddenly there was this motion out of. nowhere and it was bats and one of them. flew so close to my face and I. remembered seeing its teeth and the.

little pig nose and the funny thing is I. don't think I was. scared because my father was right there. with me I was just interested it. actually seemed amazing that there was. this whole other form of life deep down. in the earth and here we were crossing. paths and now 40 years later sitting in. this dark temple in the. Yucatan I was just kind of swimming in. this memory when suddenly I look up and.

Rodrigo and his student have caught all. the bats and they're holding their. little checkered bags and the Chamber is. suddenly unwrapped and the light comes. flooding back. in and we're back in the daylight. [Music]. and it occurs to me that maybe my fear.

of bats isn't really about bats maybe. it's more about what they represent all. the deeper darker stuff the unknown the. void. death can't shut the door without a tree. in it you want me to go move forward a. bit oh I'm jungle tired so tired and all. this bat family talk and the memories. and socks and.

impermanence it's got me thinking about. my family about my daughter Greta who's. off at college and my son Becket who. turned 16 while I was on this. trip and I didn't think it would really. bother me not to be there for his. birthday but now it really does your boy. your big boy and Allan can relate. because he found out this morning that. his baby daughter Maria took her first. steps Maria took her first steps.

everything is just rushing forward. without us both big Milestones I know I. felt um a lot of love and distance at. the same. time what are you going to do your boy. all grown up I don't know I can't even. imagine I cannot imagine it. [Music]. sounds. devastating yeah. I mean and not like joyous and wonderful.

and they have their lives and then. they'll come back and you'll get like. you know yeah. that all that yeah there's. like there's the part where it's an. ending and there's the part where it's. just wonderful development and like if. it went any different that would be bad. but. yeah I don't know then you die and then. everyone forgets that you existed and.

then you're then your civilization is a. big husk of ruins you took it too. far what I guess I mean I guess I mean. I'm looking at those Mayan temples and. I'm thinking like everything dies like. the forest things are dying all around. us animals are dying and you're going to. die and both of our dads died and like. everyone is going to have a dead dad. like that's what it means to be alive is. that eventually you have a dead.

dad unless you die first but then. there's the fact that it was like. individual my individual dad Peter. Anderson who. died and I have to sit around thinking. about that all the time CU he was my. individual dad do you think about it a. lot yeah I think about it every day. really. yeah he was a really affectionate sweet. kind man um.

I I took a bunch of his clothes after he. died and so I'm always wearing his socks. or his raincoat. or um his fingerless gloves all winter. long and all kinds of stuff it's curious. so I'm always thinking about him I think. about him every day. [Music].

we drive on through the jungle toward. our last stop with Rodrigo a very. special place that the bat team has told. us is going to blow our minds and it's. basically the last place I could have. imagined myself going to before this. trip we are 43 minutes away because even. the name of this place sounds like a. horror movie It's called The Bat volcano. is afraid of certain things and we are.

going there after the break uh thieves. robbers robbers robbing you yeah well. are you not afraid of. robbers they don't. [Music].

let me tell you a story about a hole a. deep dark intimidating hole in the earth. in the Yucatan where thousands of years. ago the Limestone collapsed leaving this. big canyon with a cave at the.

bottom they call it the bat volcano. welcome guys thank you so stay on this. side of the Rope because every night. millions of bats erupt out of this hole. to fly off into the darkness tell me. what we're looking at we looking at a. gaping m in the center of the earth yeah. we're looking into the throat of planet. Earth how far down does it go.

hard to tell the scale of it is so big. few hundred feet Rodrigo insisted that. we see the bat volcano 10 miles I don't. know he wanted us to feel not just what. it's like to see a few bats or a family. of bats millions of them but to be. completely outnumbered fully immersed in. bats so they can navigate plus there's a. whole crowd of other people because this. place is kind of a tourist attraction. like 30 m M long 6 M high it's still.

light outside so nothing has started yet. we're just staring down waiting I think. this is going to be. impressive feels like the bat capacity. for this cave is large and then the sky. clouds over and it starts to rain on us. a real tropical downpour there's no. shelter so we're just standing there. getting soaked and I ask Rodrigo is the. rain going to Stop the Bats from. flying and he says absolutely nothing.

will stop these bats from. flying so we stand there soing wet. waiting oh there we go first thought and. finally we see the tiniest little. flitting in this giant bowl of the. canyon it's almost nothing just a speck. of motion you can see them that they. avoiding and then a couple more specks. and then a few more they're thickening.

it's. thickening it's sort of like watching. popcorn pop getting really close there's. like one kernel and then two and then. all of a sudden a million kernels. they're passsing through you that but. these are bats just infinite bats coming. out another species that is different. sizes different species and Broad wings. but they're all sort of moving together. like this huge super organism. oh my God they're just really getting.

thicker and thicker over on that side. and soon the whole universe is. bats it's really hypnotic I feel. completely dwarfed they're coming really. close to my. head and in that moment I feel the. strangest feeling do you feel scared. uh-uh you feel goodar it's absolutely. not it's extremely delicate and be. beautiful it's really beautiful I feel.

soothed by the bats I'm not scared at. all bats are passing right in front of. my face through my legs they're shooting. through the tiny space between me and. Allen and there's a crowd of people. around us watching and we are all. completely silent. there's this reverence in the air cover.

your eyes like. this I don't know how many thousands or. tens of thousands or hundreds of. thousands of bats flew right by me that. night within Arm's. Reach none of these bats ever came close. to touching me but I could feel their. attention on me and I felt this absolute. sense of trust. all I had to do was stand there and.

watch and these millions of bat wings. flapping it sounded like. rain which reminded me of Oregon where. I'm from where my dad. lived and then out of the silence I hear. a tiny voice calling. out a little girl calling for her. papa which is what I called my dad.

Papa and I thought about all the bats. we'd seen and the bat families holding. each other huddling together close. hanging from the ceiling like a bunch of. bananas. nothing beautiful beautiful I'm so glad. that we enjoyed it so profound and. beautiful. and then I thought how in my own tiny.

life surrounded by all this depth and. darkness that I'll never. understand all I really want to do while. I'm still here is just hang like a bunch. of bananas close to all of the creatures. that I. love my friend Allan my little family. Walnut until one of these days days. maybe soon maybe a long time from now.

the darkness will take. [Music]. me and I will spread my wings and fly. off into some other world that I don't. [Music]. understand and at least at this. moment standing on the edge of this. giant. hole immersed in this living cloud of. bats. that actually.

sounds just fine. [Music]. [Music].

this episode was produced by Caitlyn. Roberts with help from Crystal Dam and. reported by me Sam Anderson it was. edited by Wendy door our executive. producers are Paula Schuman and Lissa. Anderson Engineering by Maran Lozano. original music by Marian Lozano and Dan. Powell factchecking by Anna Alvarado.

special thanks to Jake Silverstein Sasha. Weiss and Sam dolnik also to Rodrigo. medin and his wonderful students Javier. Torres cantes Monica isero suzan anhel. Uriel Torres. alcantra and my good old buddy Alan. Paige for finally taking this trip with. me you can listen to all of our episodes. wherever you get podcasts or visit our. website at NY.

times.com. animal I Sam Anderson thanks for. listening DH Lawrence also wrote a poem. about mosquitoes he did do you remember. how that one goes doesn't say not for me. he likes mosquitoes better than bats I. think so.