The Invisible Mammal

ilmmaker Kristin Tièche recently released “The Invisible Mammal,” a documentary focusing on the importance of bats and bat conservation. Bat Conservation International (BCI) asked her a few questions about the film and bat conservation.

One night, I thought I saw something fly by. I looked up in the sky, and it was just filled with bats. It was so cool. I had never seen anything like that before. Then years later, I read an article about how this disease called white-nose syndrome (WNS) was killing bats by the millions. I had this really emotional response to that article and decided the topic would make a really interesting documentary.

In 2019, we went to Bracken Cave for the first time to film there, and I still tell people that was one of the greatest wildlife experiences that I’ve ever had in my entire life. When you witness the “batnado” with 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats emerging in a vortex from a cave, it’s something that just moves you. I hope that when people see the film, they’ll feel that too.

Oh, absolutely. I mean, the first thing is that bats are small and fast, so you have a very small window of opportunity to get the shots that you need. Something in general about wildlife is that sometimes you just can’t make them do what you want them to do on cue.

Just start doing it. No matter who you are, where you come from, or your background, there are so many interesting stories about wildlife in every single neighborhood and region on Earth. Whatever wildlife you have in your region of the world, there’s a story there.