n April, Melquisedec Gamba-Rios, Ph.D., and Jennifer Barros, Ph.D., placed small infrared lights in a tight tunnel-like passageway in Jamaica’s St. Clair Cave. Air temperatures outside the cave were approaching 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and humidity levels were very high. Inside, it was at least 10 degrees warmer—and wetter.

St. Clair Cave is one of the most important cave systems for bats in the Caribbean, with more than two million bats and 10 bat species, including the Critically Endangered Jamaican greater funnel-eared bats (Natalus jamaicensis). Gamba-Rios, Bat Conservation International (BCI)’s Regional Director in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Barros, BCI’s Brazil Program Manager, used infrared lights to minimize disturbing the bats and placed themselves near the bats’ exit. Soon, the bats began exiting the cave to scour the skies for insects, and look for fruit and nectar.

In this section of St. Clair Cave, more than 200,000 bats flew straight towards Gamba-Rios, who was holding an infrared video camera. The bats’ echolocation abilities prevented them from bumping into the scientists, but they came close. Hours later, Gamba-Rios and Barros exited the cave—soaked in a mixture of sweat and bat excrement. But they emerged with dramatic footage of bats in action.

Filmmaker Chris Gallaway, founder and producer of Horizonline Pictures, is adding Gamba-Rios’s footage to one of his films for BCI. On his visit to the cave in April, Gallaway placed himself and his equipment outside the entrance of St. Clair Cave long before the sunset to capture up-close footage of the billowing mass of bats that would emerge from the cave and take flight. BCI has engaged him to film and produce three short videos over the next year that showcase the work BCI undertakes worldwide. His first stop was Jamaica’s St. Clair and Stony Hill caves. Next, he will film bat conservation work in Fiji and then Kenya. But these aren’t Gallaway’s first foray into filming bats for BCI.

While collecting footage and transforming those moments into films is a lot of work, Barros says these films have a huge impact on viewers and are vital in spreading the message of bat conservation.

“All the work is worth it. With the videos and movies, people can have a visual impression, relate more with the bats, and see the real impacts of the threats we are trying to reduce,” Barros says. “Filming is an important part of the conservation work.”

For the two-day shoot at St. Clair Cave, Gallaway divided more than 120 pounds of filming equipment into several duffel bags, including tripods, lights, and light stands. Members of the Polly Ground community, who fully support the conservation work to protect the bats, helped transport all the equipment to the cave. Gallaway also carried 40 pounds of cameras and lenses down a precipitous mile-long trail to the base of the cave’s entrance, where he and other BCI team members moved like cliff climbers down a jumble of gigantic fig tree roots. Hand over hand, he grasped the exposed roots as he positioned his feet. He hauled his equipment down in batches by rope. From his perch 20 feet above the ground, Gallaway filmed from the cave entrance and experienced two million bats around him fluttering and flying into the night.

During daylight hours, Gallaway interviewed local partners who recognized the ecological importance of the cave and its bat inhabitants. Jamaican greater funnel-eared bats are endemic to St. Clair Cave and found nowhere else. In 2013, BCI added the species to its priority list of worldwide bats needing conservation measures. In 2008, the bat was added to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List with notes that the species’ peril rests in having only one roosting location, unrestricted public access to the cave, and predatory feral cats.

According to Gallaway, filming at Jamaica’s Stony Hill Cave was a different experience from work in St. Clair Cave. While St. Clair Cave is remote and hard to access, Stony Hill is close to roads and homes, which is one of the reasons why the cave’s Critically Endangered Jamaican flower bat (Phyllonycteris aphylla) is at risk. A road sits less than 20 feet from the cave’s entrance. Gallaway filmed the nearby hillside neighborhoods of Jamaican-style concrete houses and partnered with an in-country drone operator to add a perspective about the proximity between humans and the cave.

The species was considered extinct for over 20 years before being rediscovered in 1997 by Jamaica’s National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA). Since then, local partners have monitored the site. In 2017, BCI started working with NEPA on efforts to protect the species. Within five years, working closely with Jamaica’s Natural Resources Conservation Authority and NEPA, BCI raised funds to purchase Stony Hill Cave and its surrounding land. Still, the cave is at risk from feral cats and human disturbance. Gallaway filmed in the area where feral cats devoured bats that they snagged near the entrance to the cave as bats left to forage for fruits and nectar.

Filming bats up close and in flight is surely one part of the equation to get people involved with bat conservation, according to Jon Flanders, Ph.D., BCI’s Director of Endangered Species Interventions. “Showing people what we do and how we do it is important. Highlighting our partners and our work with communities has the potential to inspire more people to get involved.”

Some of the footage has also been shared on a wider scale. “In Jamaica, when word spread of BCI’s film project, the Natural History Museum of Jamaica in Kingston inquired if the footage could be used in an exhibit,” Flanders says. “This wasn’t part of the museum’s plan, but when they heard of our project, it inspired their interest. Of course, we agreed.”

Flanders says films are important since they are such powerful mediums. “Film projects have the potential to connect viewers to bats and showcase the work of bat conservation in the places we work and beyond,” Flanders says. “Any way of spreading the word of our work opens doors to more understanding, more partnerships.”