1 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:19,200 Mexico. A wild land. 2 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:24,320 The animals that live here do so in greater numbers 3 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:27,320 and variety than almost anywhere else on Earth. 4 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,800 With so much at stake, 5 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:39,080 one man has fought tirelessly to protect the wildlife of Mexico, 6 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:43,440 but there's a particular creature he's devoted his life to saving. 7 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:49,720 Rodrigo Medellin is the champion 8 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:53,480 of one of the world's most hated animals - bats. 9 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:58,160 There's little bats, 10 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:01,000 there's big bats, there's short-snouted, long-snouted, 11 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:05,600 big eyes, little eyes, long ears, short ears - every type of bat. 12 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:11,120 He is embarking on the culmination of his life's work - 13 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:14,000 a mission to save both his favourite bat 14 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:19,120 and the legendary drink of Mexico - tequila. 15 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:23,560 In Mexico and in other places because of what I do, 16 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:24,920 they call me the bat man. 17 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:32,720 All I want is that people get the right information about bats 18 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:35,120 and about how important they are for us 19 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:41,760 and if that entails them calling me the bat man, so be it. 20 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:43,160 I AM the bat man. 21 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:00,320 Rodrigo Medellin was not like other children. 22 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:03,920 While his friends kept gerbils and hamsters, 23 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:06,760 Rodrigo's pets were vampire bats. 24 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:10,800 I remember when I was a kid, 25 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:14,920 I would keep vampire bats in the bathroom of my home, 26 00:02:14,920 --> 00:02:19,200 feeding them blood from cows - or from me, sometimes - 27 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:24,600 keeping blood in the fridge so that I could feed the bats every night. 28 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:30,560 That was not easy to withstand, and still my parents let me do that. 29 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:35,040 It was fascinating to me to see these bats feeding and interacting 30 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:39,080 with each other, and they'd take care of each other so well. 31 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:40,600 It was a lot of fun. 32 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:45,960 It was the beginning of a lifetime's obsession. 33 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:52,280 But Rodrigo grew up in a world that loathes bats. 34 00:02:54,960 --> 00:03:00,240 In the 19th century, there was this author who wrote a book 35 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:06,360 entitled Dracula, that really touched the imagination of people 36 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:08,120 around the world 37 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:13,800 and that has turned bats into monsters, unfortunately. 38 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:23,800 Bats were so hated in Mexico 39 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:26,040 because of their association with evil 40 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:28,840 that people would hunt them down and kill them, 41 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:30,320 burning them in their caves. 42 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:35,080 Their populations crashed. 43 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:40,280 To this day, people are afraid, 44 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:43,400 saying that they're filthy, 45 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:47,520 and that they are everything bad in the world. 46 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:49,560 That is really not the case at all. 47 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:55,880 A kilometre into a mountain south of Mexico City, 48 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:59,080 Rodrigo is searching for a bat so persecuted 49 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:01,560 that it was nearly lost for ever. 50 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:05,800 It's called the lesser long-nosed bat, or tequila bat. 51 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:12,000 This is one of his favourite childhood haunts. 52 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:18,840 For most people, caves would sound like a terrifying place, 53 00:04:18,840 --> 00:04:21,240 like a place where they don't belong. 54 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,960 But caves are my perfect place. 55 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:27,520 Caves are an incredibly peaceful place. 56 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,200 Rodrigo has spent much of the last 20 years underground, 57 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:34,120 working to save the tequila bat. 58 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,720 Bat guano all over. 59 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:44,360 Under that layer of bat faeces 60 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:48,160 is a whole layer of living insects. 61 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:51,560 Beetles, beetle larvae, fly larvae, 62 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:55,160 moth larvae, that are just moving everything, everything, everything. 63 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:56,960 You look and everything is moving. 64 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:03,840 Because bats move from cave to cave, he never knows what he'll find. 65 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:07,320 As he approaches the roost, he must leave his lantern outside. 66 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:12,640 Our cameras can see what he cannot. 67 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:16,560 No-one has seen this before. 68 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:23,280 Look at this. There are so many bats around us. 69 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:28,320 In this beautiful space. 70 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:31,520 There are thousands of bats here, of many different species - 71 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:33,560 perhaps even the ones he's after. 72 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:36,400 But Rodrigo can't see them. 73 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:41,320 If I close my eyes now, 74 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:48,000 it's exactly the same as if I have them open, I see absolutely nothing. 75 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,040 In terms of my ears, 76 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:54,120 I am hearing a stream of bats coming from that direction around me 77 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:58,960 and passing through, and then a bunch of bats squealing back there. 78 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:05,080 I can picture a map of the cave in my head. 79 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:08,040 The bats also navigate using their ears, 80 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:12,160 but they have evolved the ability to see with sound. 81 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:16,240 They make high-pitched sounds beyond our hearing 82 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:19,080 and listen for their echoes off objects. 83 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:20,880 This how they can fly in the dark. 84 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:25,080 This is what is called the hall of hell - 85 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:31,720 temperatures well above our comfort zone, close to 38-40 degrees Celsius, 86 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:36,160 very high relative humidity - all of my clothes are completely wet. 87 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,960 People associate this heat with hell. 88 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:42,400 But I feel perfectly at home here. 89 00:06:45,280 --> 00:06:48,320 Rodrigo pushes into the deepest chamber 90 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:50,960 to find out if his precious tequila bats are here. 91 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:57,160 He may not be able to see the bats, but the guano beneath his feet 92 00:06:57,160 --> 00:06:59,760 is a vivid history of what's lived in this cave. 93 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:05,160 And Rodrigo knows his guano. 94 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:12,520 Oh, yes - this is a lump of lesser long-nosed bat poop. 95 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:16,200 This tells me that this is indeed a lesser long-nosed bat colony. 96 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:22,640 They're here, and thanks to Rodrigo's work, they're safe. 97 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:29,520 Today, gates and guardians protect this cave. 98 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:32,440 Now Rodrigo must catch one to see if they're healthy. 99 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:36,600 To do this without harming them, 100 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:41,760 he uses mist nets, too fine for the bats' echolocation to detect. 101 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:44,920 My first lesser long-nosed bat came into my hands 102 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:50,080 when I was, like, 15. We knew nothing about it. 103 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:53,120 Then we found out that they were really endangered. 104 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:56,800 We were looking at roosts that were known to have 105 00:07:56,800 --> 00:07:59,760 many thousands of lesser long-nosed bats 106 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:04,120 and when we visited them, they only had a few hundreds or none. 107 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:06,920 That immediately told us that they were in trouble. 108 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:12,240 So this is one of my best friends. 109 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:18,720 This is the lesser-long nosed bat. This is an amazing animal 110 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:21,840 that migrates for thousands of kilometres. 111 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:26,160 It's a small, but powerful flier. Look at this amazing wing. 112 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:33,960 This is what made bats so successful in the night skies. 113 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:40,000 Long-fingered hand here and a very long arm here. 114 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,200 You can see both vein down here 115 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:47,120 and a series of muscles stretches here. 116 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:49,800 It's very much alive, 117 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:55,560 so that they can control making it broader or narrower. 118 00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:01,680 That makes them masters of the air. 119 00:09:01,680 --> 00:09:05,600 It's getting ready to start a really exciting time, 120 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:07,680 a really demanding time, 121 00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:11,520 a really dangerous time too, which is migration. 122 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:18,840 The migration of this tiny endangered bat 123 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:21,680 is one of the greatest in the animal world. 124 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:24,080 This epic journey happens at night, 125 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:27,840 so it's taken Rodrigo 20 years to work out their route. 126 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:33,480 Over his life, he has discovered many of the roosts they use 127 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:38,920 on their 2,000-kilometre journey and protected them, one by one. 128 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:46,760 The entire migration is powered by nectar. 129 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:50,920 I'm going to give it a bit of sugar water here. 130 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:55,880 This incredible tongue that they have 131 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:58,760 is the perfect instrument for them 132 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:02,520 to reach into deep flowers like agave flowers. 133 00:10:04,680 --> 00:10:09,360 It's incredible that an animal this big can do what these guys do. 134 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:14,920 I love them because of that. 135 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:19,920 Rodrigo is about to immerse himself in the bats' world. 136 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:22,440 By tracking their entire migration, 137 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:26,680 he wants to see if he's achieved what many thought impossible - 138 00:10:26,680 --> 00:10:29,320 saving the tequila bats from extinction. 139 00:10:30,680 --> 00:10:34,920 The stakes are high - their fate is tied to Mexico's most famous export. 140 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:40,160 As a Mexican, I am proud of my country 141 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:47,920 and part of the Mexican spirit is a beverage 142 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:49,320 that is called tequila. 143 00:10:55,560 --> 00:10:59,800 These spiky plants are the source of tequila. 144 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:04,720 Tequila is a very important part of the Mexican economy 145 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:06,880 and it is owed to bats. 146 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:16,840 Bats provide pollination for the tequila plant, the agave plant. 147 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,280 Mexico relies on tequila. 148 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:27,800 Over a quarter of a billion litres were exported last year. 149 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:35,080 Every plant is harvested by hand by men called jimadores... 150 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:40,800 ..in a trade passed down from father to son. 151 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:47,880 The agaves are planted where they've always grown - 152 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:49,960 in the flight path of the bats. 153 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:06,640 What agaves do is, they grow and grow and grow 154 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:12,640 and then when the time comes, they send this amazing shoot, 155 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:16,600 huge flowering stalk, up into the sky. 156 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:21,240 They invest all of their energy that they have accumulated over 15 years 157 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:24,080 into one single reproductive event 158 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:27,160 that basically costs them their lives. 159 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:30,560 The link that they formed has been here for millions of years. 160 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:36,080 Agaves rely on the bats to move their pollen. 161 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:39,520 Bats rely on agaves so that they can survive. 162 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:46,560 We could not have this amazing product 163 00:12:46,560 --> 00:12:51,320 if it wasn't for the bats, and I can't help but think of the bats 164 00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:55,400 and thank the bats for the incredible service they give us. 165 00:13:03,560 --> 00:13:05,920 Without the bats, there would be no tequila. 166 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:17,120 Bats are so vital in spreading pollen and seeds 167 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:21,080 that they're known as the farmers of the tropics. 168 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:28,280 Without them, our crops and forests would collapse, 169 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:30,520 with terrible consequences for us all. 170 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:41,040 The tequila bats' journey takes them west... 171 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:49,160 ..and they sweep through the valleys and plains of Central Mexico. 172 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:55,440 The land beneath them changes constantly. 173 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:00,560 And always, they pass over us. 174 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:08,920 Until 500km west of where they started, 175 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:13,960 they hit the Pacific Ocean, and the uninhabited islands of Chamela. 176 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:27,200 Rodrigo has heard reports that the bats have been gathering here. 177 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:33,480 He's never been to this cave before. 178 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:50,960 To his horror, it's full of cockroaches - he hates cockroaches. 179 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:54,000 So many cockroaches, and I almost fell on them! 180 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:02,360 But he's astonished by what he finds. 181 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:05,200 This is incredible. 182 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:14,440 So many lesser-long nosed bats, all around me. 183 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:20,920 It's so good to see that their numbers are stable and big. 184 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:25,280 The tequila bats have come together from all across Mexico 185 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:27,080 with one thing on their minds. 186 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:51,080 They're mating here right now, 187 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:54,520 and this is a very well protected cave. 188 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:56,360 The ocean takes care of that. 189 00:15:59,920 --> 00:16:03,680 While Lucas, the boatman, tucks into some oysters, 190 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:06,560 Rodrigo pushes deeper into the cave, 191 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:09,760 and the source of the bats' aphrodisiac. 192 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:13,840 Oh, yes! 193 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:18,640 A big male, which is what we expected in this cave. 194 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:23,360 It's full of males getting ready to reproduce. 195 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:32,320 Such well-tempered bat, with big testicles ready for action, 196 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:36,000 loaded with sperm and ready for the females that are gathering 197 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:41,080 here in this cave, and this should have a patch on its back. 198 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:43,880 Oh, yeah - the patch is there, very oily. 199 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:46,800 I can feel it with my finger here. 200 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:49,000 That patch is put there by the males. 201 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:51,600 They put faeces and urine and saliva there, 202 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:54,320 and that is very attractive to the females. 203 00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:57,280 The females are going to come and take a whiff of that 204 00:16:57,280 --> 00:16:59,720 and just fall in love with this guy. 205 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:03,440 This boy is ready to mate 206 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:07,040 and it's time to let him go so that he can do his deed. 207 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:10,080 There you go, my friend. 208 00:17:14,360 --> 00:17:16,320 On the roof of this cave, 209 00:17:16,320 --> 00:17:19,040 an extraordinary mass seduction is taking place. 210 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:24,880 Once the females find a male whose sex potion entrances them, 211 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:29,000 they'll choose him as their mate. 212 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:32,000 And in three months, 1,500 kilometres away, 213 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:34,960 a single baby bat will be born. 214 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:40,160 It may be alluring for the females, 215 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:44,600 but for Rodrigo, the smell is overpowering. 216 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:48,480 This is a really stinky cave, 217 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:52,520 and there's lots and lots of bats here. 218 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:54,360 Lots of them everywhere. 219 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:56,840 And this is...oh! 220 00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:01,880 And this is certainly a challenging cave to be in, to be sure. 221 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:08,080 Eventually, the smell and cockroaches are too much, 222 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:09,960 even for the bat man. 223 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:24,640 The bats will stay on this island for weeks, 224 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:26,800 mating and building their strength 225 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:30,120 before they continue on the next stage in their migration. 226 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:36,480 It will be perhaps 30 sunsets until then. 227 00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:39,480 And each evening is a changing of the guard. 228 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:58,440 As the birds of Mexico head home to roost... 229 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:08,960 ..all across this enormous country, bats are about to reclaim the night. 230 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:16,000 Nowhere is this more spectacular than the bat volcano of Calakmul. 231 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:23,160 Predators are gathering. 232 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:28,200 It's called the bat volcano, because every night, it erupts. 233 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:50,360 This is one of the greatest bat colonies on Earth. 234 00:19:50,360 --> 00:19:55,040 Perhaps as many as three million bats live here. 235 00:19:55,040 --> 00:20:00,080 To avoid being eaten, they form a living tornado, 200m tall. 236 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:03,200 In this whirling mass, 237 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:07,640 it's almost impossible for their predators to choose a target. 238 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,480 But the bats must head to their feeding grounds, 239 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:13,080 and they start to peel off across the forest. 240 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:22,520 Now the hunters can strike. 241 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:29,760 One bat narrowly escapes. 242 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:36,720 Others aren't so lucky. 243 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:44,800 Bat falcons and brown jays also swoop in to make their kills. 244 00:20:55,360 --> 00:20:57,800 But nothing can dent the swarm. 245 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,760 They're heading for the cornfields across the forest. 246 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:11,120 There, they will devour 20 tonnes of insect pests... 247 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:19,680 ..like this hatching armyworm moth. 248 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:23,160 Each moth can produce hundreds of hungry caterpillars. 249 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:28,760 And unprotected, the crops would be doomed. 250 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:39,720 Most Mexicans don't realise they owe not only their tequila, 251 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:41,880 but also their corn to bats. 252 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:50,200 Thanks to bats, we're eating this. 253 00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:56,920 Rodrigo's main weapon to defend the bats is education. 254 00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:00,600 His teams work in over 30 states across Mexico, 255 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:04,000 and he never misses a chance for a bit of bat PR. 256 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,600 You can see it in the eyes of people when you talk to them 257 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:55,600 and it makes sense - all of a sudden, everything makes sense. 258 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:03,720 Their frame of mind changes and they're bat friends from then on 259 00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:05,520 and they propagate the message. 260 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:07,520 They talk to people in the house, 261 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:10,320 they talk to people in the office, school et cetera. 262 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:15,320 And little by little, the situation goes snowballing 263 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:18,160 and really, really changes the panorama for the bats. 264 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:22,440 I can turn them around in ten minutes. 265 00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:27,160 In 15 minutes I give them the facts, I give them the evidence, 266 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:29,960 I give them the images. 267 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:34,560 Over 20 years, Rodrigo and his team have converted the people 268 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:36,640 whose land the bats rely on 269 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:40,080 from potential destroyers to bat defenders. 270 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:49,320 Just a few centuries ago, bats were worshipped in Mexico. 271 00:23:51,120 --> 00:23:55,040 The darkest month was named after them 272 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:56,720 and one of their gods was a bat. 273 00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:01,000 This is the rainforest of the Maya. 274 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:06,360 Because the tequila bats have still not left their island, 275 00:24:06,360 --> 00:24:10,160 Rodrigo has a chance to return to the place he calls home. 276 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:20,480 Once, a vast empire stretched across these lands. 277 00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:24,840 Now their temples, palaces, 278 00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:28,360 and sacrificial altars have been swallowed by the forest. 279 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:38,760 This jungle is very special to Rodrigo. 280 00:24:41,120 --> 00:24:46,080 For here, 30 years ago, he helped create the Chajul field station. 281 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:53,080 It has since become his base for bat research. 282 00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:58,440 I always look forward to my first morning, 283 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:02,360 when I'm going to be woken up by the howlers calling. 284 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:08,640 Nature right there, with you, just outside your window. 285 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:16,360 It's great to be back. It's peaceful. 286 00:25:16,360 --> 00:25:18,240 It really feels like coming home. 287 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:31,440 Every time I go into the forest looking for bats, 288 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:33,640 there's something different going on. 289 00:25:36,360 --> 00:25:37,920 When the forest is alive, 290 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:41,760 every little piece of the forest that you see has a secret to unveil. 291 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:48,920 One of the first nights that I spent here, 292 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:54,560 I set my mist nets and I was blown away by the diversity of bats, 293 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:58,440 by the abundance of the bats. 294 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:02,320 There's nothing like this anywhere else in Mexico. 295 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:05,720 Not like this - this is 50, 40 species in a week. 296 00:26:07,120 --> 00:26:12,080 Many bats that I caught there had never been caught in Mexico before. 297 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:14,360 So those are new records for the country. 298 00:26:20,360 --> 00:26:25,240 In a couple of nights, Rodrigo and his team catch 22 species. 299 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,880 That's more types of bat than inhabit the entire British Isles. 300 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:40,240 Flower nibblers, 301 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:42,800 fruit gobblers, 302 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:46,280 and even some bats that devour other bats... 303 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:51,120 ..leaving only their wings. 304 00:26:55,720 --> 00:27:01,520 And tonight, he's caught something very rare and very weird. 305 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:06,040 It's got suckers in its thumbs and in its feet. 306 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:10,720 And really real suckers. 307 00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:13,840 SOFT POP 308 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:15,400 Beautiful. 309 00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:21,520 I have this glass - it's perfectly smooth 310 00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:25,360 and it's using its suckers to move around the glass. 311 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:32,240 This sucker-footed bat can stick to the sides of curled-up jungle leaves 312 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:35,120 in which it hides in the daytime. 313 00:27:35,120 --> 00:27:40,600 There's no other mammal or bird or reptile who have suckers like this. 314 00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:44,120 This is something really unique in the natural world. 315 00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:46,720 Now it's time to let him go. 316 00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:49,320 The suckers make it really hard to come out. 317 00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:02,200 Some gentle encouragement, and he's away. 318 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:03,120 Go on. 319 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:11,920 Finally, it's time for Rodrigo to return to the tequila bat island. 320 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:17,440 It takes three days by boat, car and foot. 321 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:25,080 The females are now pregnant 322 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:28,480 and are ready to start their long journey north. 323 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:34,560 They're not the only travellers who will set out tonight, 324 00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:38,720 for on the beach, new life is stirring. 325 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:44,960 This is a miracle. This is many miracles happening right now. 326 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:54,360 These are all olive ridley sea turtles. 327 00:28:54,360 --> 00:29:00,280 Their mother deposited the eggs here about two months ago 328 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:03,080 and these newborns are incredibly powerful, 329 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:08,360 having just pushed through about two feet of sand. 330 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:15,440 And they're getting ready to go into the ocean. 331 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:17,040 Good luck to you all! 332 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:25,000 From this beach, the turtles will spread across the oceans. 333 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:29,480 Those that survive will be pushed by their instincts 334 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:33,280 and their memories to return to this beach to lay their eggs. 335 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:40,480 It's this same urge to go back to the place of their birth 336 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:44,320 that drives the mother tequila bats north. 337 00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:47,120 They too are returning to where they started life. 338 00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:53,480 Before they spread out across Mexico, 339 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:55,840 Rodrigo has a rare chance to count them, 340 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:57,880 and estimate how many there are. 341 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:03,800 This is an amazing thing - I can't see anything. 342 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,480 The cave is straight ahead of me, 343 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:10,880 so this thermal camera can tell me what's going on there. 344 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:13,400 Using this technology, 345 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:18,360 we can estimate how many bats do we have in this cave. 346 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:23,480 I'm guessing about 40,000 lesser long-nosed bats. 347 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:25,800 This, of course, is chaos. 348 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:29,360 I mean, really, they're going in every possible direction 349 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:32,040 but the spectacle is incredible. 350 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:35,440 This is staggering, considering that 20 years ago, 351 00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:37,760 when Rodrigo started to save them, 352 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:41,280 many caves only had a few hundred bats, or none at all. 353 00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:50,120 The path the bats must now take 354 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:54,040 lies between the mountains of the Sierra Madre and the sea. 355 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:57,640 This fertile land is called the nectar corridor... 356 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:06,360 ..Because here, every year, billions of flowers open at night. 357 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,360 The bats must feed on these constantly 358 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:13,680 to fuel their journey, otherwise they'll die. 359 00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:16,000 And they have to time it perfectly. 360 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:23,440 Over millions of years, the bats have learned by trial and death 361 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:26,080 to track where the nectar is going to show up next. 362 00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:31,640 Bats are early or bats are late, plants die and bats die. 363 00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:39,880 What the bats miss is hoovered up quickly in the daytime, 364 00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:43,920 in a fiesta of hummingbirds. 365 00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:51,520 But both hummingbird and bat face an uncertain future. 366 00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:54,920 Humans are affecting every last corner of the world 367 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:58,760 in many different ways, some ways that we still don't understand. 368 00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:04,480 Biological diversity is under threat from many angles, 369 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:10,760 and not all of them are manageable or reversible by humans. 370 00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:17,720 Mexico is developing fast. The land the bats rely on 371 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,720 is being swallowed and nature is being destroyed. 372 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:27,360 But because of Rodrigo, at least some is safe. 373 00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:32,760 30 years ago, he was asked to assist the new government 374 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:36,120 to devise laws to save the wildlife of Mexico. 375 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:40,320 Land-owners, the Mexican people, 376 00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:46,880 worked as partners to create a vast network of linked nature reserves 377 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:50,000 made from their private and the government's public land. 378 00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:54,040 I've worked with small groups, big groups, 379 00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:57,280 individuals, in the government halls, everywhere. 380 00:32:57,280 --> 00:32:59,720 All we need is a little bit of information 381 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,120 and people are going to change about bats. 382 00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:07,720 Now, over a quarter of Mexico is protected land. 383 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:10,680 Where other countries have lost much of their wildlife, 384 00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:13,320 Mexico is a rare success story. 385 00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:18,840 But nature in Mexico is still threatened 386 00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:22,320 and Rodrigo is still pushing to save more. 387 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:26,040 This cave is one of the safe ones, 388 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:28,560 protected by local families who share the land. 389 00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:37,080 Down here, Rodrigo and the bats feel safe. 390 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:44,480 The peacefulness in here is really overwhelming. 391 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:47,280 It's really nice. 392 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:52,200 The only sound around you are the bats flying around you. 393 00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:55,600 This here is a bed of bat guano. 394 00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:59,160 I could just lie down here and take a nap. 395 00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:00,640 It would be a very nice nap. 396 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:03,760 I just absolutely love it. 397 00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:08,560 But even in their deepest sanctuaries, 398 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:12,200 where their bodies lie undisturbed by any scavenger, 399 00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:14,280 they're never quite secure. 400 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:16,440 For this cave is called the cave of the serpents. 401 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:26,160 Somehow, a group of snakes 402 00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:28,880 have learned that they can catch their food here. 403 00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:32,920 This is something I have never seen before. 404 00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:35,880 These are rat snakes. 405 00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:40,240 But they're getting used to eating bats inside the cave, 406 00:34:40,240 --> 00:34:41,680 as they come out. 407 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:47,760 As darkness falls outside, the bats prepare to leave. 408 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:51,800 From much deeper underground, 409 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:55,280 they start to throng the narrow passages towards the surface. 410 00:34:56,680 --> 00:34:59,120 And the snakes start to emerge. 411 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:09,080 Look at that! 412 00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:17,360 This snake is deep into the cave, 413 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:20,680 where the bats are supposed to be completely safe from predators. 414 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:24,760 Not so! Dinner. 415 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,960 The bat dwarfs the snake's head. 416 00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:34,480 To swallow it, the snake must dislocate its jaw. 417 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:40,400 This is one more danger that bats face 418 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:43,920 along their migration, 419 00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:47,240 and still they're there and surviving. 420 00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:58,880 THUNDER CRASHES 421 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:03,120 But just when the bat populations look safe, disaster strikes. 422 00:36:07,120 --> 00:36:12,160 Within weeks of each other, not one but two hurricanes hit Mexico 423 00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:14,680 and batter the entire Pacific coast. 424 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:22,200 This is a threat beyond even Rodrigo's control. 425 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:28,920 He loses the tequila bats. 426 00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:35,720 Across the country, he sends his students to everywhere 427 00:36:35,720 --> 00:36:37,560 the bats have ever been found. 428 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:44,080 For three weeks they search, day and night. 429 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:50,440 This has never happened before. 430 00:37:05,240 --> 00:37:09,360 Yeah, OK. So the bats are not here. Well, I don't know. 431 00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:22,800 If many of the bats have been killed, 432 00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:25,480 the future for their species is bleak. 433 00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:43,880 The way I feel right now, the trail is getting cold. 434 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:48,280 I'm not sure if we're going to find them. 435 00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:52,040 Our only hope is to keep poking and looking 436 00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:56,600 in every little piece of bat habitat that we know of, 437 00:37:56,600 --> 00:37:58,680 to see if they are there. 438 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:08,000 It's a tense time for Rodrigo. He puts out rewards for any leads. 439 00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:14,560 At last, one of his students thinks they've seen a tequila bat 440 00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:16,720 in a cave called Las Vegas. 441 00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:28,160 They block the exits and he heads in alone. 442 00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:44,600 Finally he emerges - triumphant. 443 00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:47,480 I found them! 444 00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:51,160 It took weeks of searching everywhere. 445 00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:54,800 It took two hurricanes to move the bats around 446 00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:58,440 so that we could not track them, but they're here. 447 00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:03,520 I got, like, er, maybe like ten, so the population is healthy. 448 00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:08,080 Another dot in the migration of this species. 449 00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:10,280 I'm so relieved. I've found them! 450 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:16,280 Oh, wow! 451 00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:26,840 Oh, look at this! This is a pregnant female. 452 00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:29,520 Her wings are in great shape. 453 00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:37,040 Wow! I can feel the head right here and the rump over here. 454 00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:40,440 This is the baby right here. The baby is really big. 455 00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:48,640 I can't imagine the energy that this bat has spent 456 00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:53,080 just flying around with a foetus growing inside her. 457 00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:55,080 Thank you, mom. You're ready to go. 458 00:40:02,240 --> 00:40:05,320 With proof that there are bats here in numbers, 459 00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:07,680 he can get legal protection for the cave. 460 00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:13,360 The tequila bats have another vital place of permanent safety. 461 00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:23,280 For Rodrigo, it's time to visit some old friends. 462 00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:31,840 There are over 1,200 species of bats in the world. 463 00:40:38,360 --> 00:40:39,440 Three are vampires. 464 00:40:46,720 --> 00:40:49,760 And two of these species live in this cave. 465 00:40:56,840 --> 00:40:58,520 I got you! 466 00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:01,560 I thought this was a common vampire bat 467 00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:03,680 but it's a hairy-legged vampire bat. 468 00:41:04,960 --> 00:41:06,360 They're not common at all. 469 00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:11,880 This hairy-legged vampire bat feeds almost entirely 470 00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:14,880 on mammal blood in this area here. 471 00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:17,800 They have a really soft side, which is that they share blood. 472 00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:23,360 No vampire bat can afford to go one night without feeding. 473 00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:28,400 We found out that they'd come back from their foraging 474 00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:30,760 and regurgitate a little bit of the blood for the guys 475 00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:34,240 that didn't feed that night. 476 00:41:34,240 --> 00:41:37,280 So basically they have a blood cooperative going 477 00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:39,520 in every vampire bat colony. 478 00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:43,040 They are nice. I mean, look at them. 479 00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:45,800 Really nice. 480 00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:55,160 This might look like the stuff of nightmares, 481 00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:57,560 but the cow is oblivious 482 00:41:57,560 --> 00:42:01,480 to the vampires feeding on its back and sides. 483 00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:06,960 Vampire teeth are so sharp that the cow doesn't feel their bite, 484 00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:10,760 and an anticoagulant in their saliva keeps the blood flowing. 485 00:42:12,640 --> 00:42:16,280 They don't suck, but lick up the flowing juices. 486 00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:22,560 Often, they will return to feed on the same animal, night after night. 487 00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:30,280 Regrettably, Rodrigo can't stay for dinner. 488 00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:34,960 He's back on the trail of the tequila bats. 489 00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:40,240 He heads north to the end of the nectar corridor 490 00:42:40,240 --> 00:42:42,920 and the edge of the Pinacate desert. 491 00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:50,800 The Pinacate desert is one of the great deserts of North America. 492 00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:54,280 It is part of the Sonoran desert 493 00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:58,600 and as such is part of the driest desert in this continent. 494 00:43:00,200 --> 00:43:04,240 It is one of the most challenging places on Earth to make 495 00:43:04,240 --> 00:43:09,360 a living as a human being or survive as a species. 496 00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:16,800 This place has been a desert for at least 100,000 years. 497 00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:25,800 The bats are aiming for a cave, deep in the heart of this desert, 498 00:43:25,800 --> 00:43:28,960 in the badlands just south of the US border. 499 00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:38,400 There are no agaves to feed off en route. 500 00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:42,520 Instead, the tequila bats, 501 00:43:42,520 --> 00:43:45,880 nearing the end of their three-month pregnancy, 502 00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:49,520 must seek the flowers of the giant columnar cactuses. 503 00:43:51,160 --> 00:43:56,000 These flowers accommodate almost half of the bat's body into them. 504 00:43:57,240 --> 00:44:02,520 It means millions of years of evolution 505 00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:07,600 in which the flowers have become perfect receptacles 506 00:44:07,600 --> 00:44:13,480 for the bat's head and snout and tongue 507 00:44:13,480 --> 00:44:19,320 and the very long tongue of the bat goes into those flowers 508 00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:24,680 and lick the nectar out and they come out completely covered with pollen. 509 00:44:24,680 --> 00:44:28,520 They move out, they go to another columnar cactus 510 00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:29,920 and there is pollination. 511 00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:35,560 Because he knows the bats will come to the cactus flowers, 512 00:44:35,560 --> 00:44:39,640 Rodrigo has a chance to solve a puzzle that's long been on his mind. 513 00:44:41,520 --> 00:44:43,920 How far can they fly in one night? 514 00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:57,720 It is a female - very lively, 515 00:44:57,720 --> 00:45:01,240 in very, very good health. 516 00:45:01,240 --> 00:45:04,680 We're going to mark it with a blue powder. 517 00:45:07,440 --> 00:45:12,400 Rodrigo coats the bats he catches in harmless UV dust, 518 00:45:12,400 --> 00:45:15,040 which they will lick off and digest. 519 00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:18,080 We keep the head out so that the powder 520 00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:23,360 does not affect its senses. 521 00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:25,320 That should be enough. 522 00:45:27,440 --> 00:45:30,480 The bats will now head on to their roost. 523 00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:34,360 And if Rodrigo can find a glowing bat-dropping there, he can prove 524 00:45:34,360 --> 00:45:38,360 how far they've flown - at least, in theory. 525 00:45:38,360 --> 00:45:40,000 No-one has tried this before. 526 00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:52,520 At daybreak, 50km from the cactuses, 527 00:45:52,520 --> 00:45:57,880 Rodrigo finally arrives at the most important cave - 528 00:45:57,880 --> 00:46:00,720 the end point of their long journey. 529 00:46:01,720 --> 00:46:04,560 The birth cave of the tequila bats. 530 00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:14,400 This cave is the largest colony 531 00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:18,600 that this bat has anywhere in the world. 532 00:46:20,240 --> 00:46:23,920 It's Rodrigo's great hope that enough bats have made it here 533 00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:25,720 to sustain their population. 534 00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:32,280 The future of the species depends on what will take place 535 00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:33,640 in this ancient volcano. 536 00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:38,800 We cannot get in the cave during the day. 537 00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:43,840 We would create chaos, worrying females 538 00:46:43,840 --> 00:46:45,640 that are taking care of their babies. 539 00:47:03,120 --> 00:47:05,160 Rodrigo must wait by the cave mouth. 540 00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:08,760 Night falls. 541 00:47:17,560 --> 00:47:18,480 And then... 542 00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:27,240 At first a trickle, then more emerge. 543 00:47:27,240 --> 00:47:29,280 At least some of the bats have made it. 544 00:47:31,280 --> 00:47:33,720 It's a tremendous relief for Rodrigo. 545 00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:44,280 Now the mothers have left the cave to find food, 546 00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:46,760 it's safe for Rodrigo to go inside. 547 00:47:55,240 --> 00:47:58,320 They turn on their UV torches, 548 00:47:58,320 --> 00:48:00,480 and carefully comb the cave. 549 00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:06,560 Ah! 550 00:48:08,880 --> 00:48:09,840 Blue poop. 551 00:48:11,960 --> 00:48:16,640 This is proof that these bats are really long distance fliers 552 00:48:16,640 --> 00:48:23,160 doing 50km one-way trips, and then coming back every night. 553 00:48:23,160 --> 00:48:25,560 This is a really good find - confirmation. 554 00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:31,840 To fly to the cactus where Rodrigo dusted it and back 555 00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:35,040 is a 100-kilometre round trip. 556 00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:37,440 No-one suspected the bats could fly so far. 557 00:48:39,200 --> 00:48:43,040 This is a spotted skunk, and it's coming out now. 558 00:48:43,040 --> 00:48:45,280 I have never seen it before. 559 00:48:45,280 --> 00:48:50,360 Look at the incredible pattern and a huge feathered plume, 560 00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:54,240 advertising that it is about to spray us, 561 00:48:54,240 --> 00:48:58,360 but it chooses to move off into the dark. 562 00:49:03,160 --> 00:49:07,600 Rodrigo moves far deeper into the maze of the volcano 563 00:49:07,600 --> 00:49:09,000 than he's ever been before. 564 00:49:13,440 --> 00:49:16,320 We can check on the reproductive success 565 00:49:16,320 --> 00:49:20,400 by gauging how many babies are hanging from the roof of a cave. 566 00:49:29,280 --> 00:49:33,400 At last - far below the desert surface - 567 00:49:33,400 --> 00:49:36,440 the bats' secret, their nursery. 568 00:49:39,720 --> 00:49:42,520 This is a group of babies, 569 00:49:42,520 --> 00:49:48,000 and there's a mix in their ages. 570 00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:51,440 Most of them are about a week old. 571 00:49:51,440 --> 00:49:53,560 Very few are one-day-old 572 00:49:53,560 --> 00:49:56,360 and two-day-old babies. It's always good to see them. 573 00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:04,120 These are the first babies to be born of what will hopefully 574 00:50:04,120 --> 00:50:06,520 be hundreds of thousands. 575 00:50:06,520 --> 00:50:10,560 The future of the entire species hangs in this cave. 576 00:50:14,280 --> 00:50:19,960 They synchronise their births so that everything happens 577 00:50:19,960 --> 00:50:24,600 in the space of two weeks, three weeks - that's it. 578 00:50:26,680 --> 00:50:31,520 You have twice that many bats in there. 579 00:50:31,520 --> 00:50:33,720 This is...this is huge. 580 00:50:44,920 --> 00:50:47,560 Oh, yeah, this is a good spot for the camera. 581 00:50:51,080 --> 00:50:53,880 Rodrigo sets up remote cameras. 582 00:50:53,880 --> 00:50:56,120 He can't stay when the mothers return, 583 00:50:56,120 --> 00:50:59,160 so he's never seen what happens here during the day 584 00:50:59,160 --> 00:51:01,360 when they're reunited with their pups. 585 00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:12,400 This is a very young baby - one-day-old, two-day-old. 586 00:51:12,400 --> 00:51:16,960 This is not a good place for the mother to leave this baby. 587 00:51:18,640 --> 00:51:22,520 The pup is so young, its umbilical cord is still attached. 588 00:51:22,520 --> 00:51:26,960 It's yet to grow the fur and fat that will keep it warm. 589 00:51:26,960 --> 00:51:29,000 These babies are tiny. 590 00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:32,880 At this age, they cannot keep their temperature up. 591 00:51:32,880 --> 00:51:38,600 They have to be surrounded by dozens or hundreds of other babies 592 00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:44,240 so that they keep the heat in place in what we call nurseries. 593 00:51:44,240 --> 00:51:46,920 But this poor guy is here by himself. 594 00:51:46,920 --> 00:51:49,880 If his mother doesn't come soon, 595 00:51:49,880 --> 00:51:53,360 his temperature is going to drop and he is going to be in trouble. 596 00:51:54,800 --> 00:51:57,840 Death is always part of the natural history of these species, 597 00:51:57,840 --> 00:52:02,720 but I always worry about the fate of these little guys. 598 00:52:02,720 --> 00:52:05,200 Soon the mothers will start to return 599 00:52:05,200 --> 00:52:07,760 from across the great desert wastes. 600 00:52:07,760 --> 00:52:09,760 It's time for Rodrigo to leave. 601 00:52:17,760 --> 00:52:22,600 In the hours before dawn, the bats flood into the ancient volcano, 602 00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:24,640 like an eruption in reverse. 603 00:52:32,400 --> 00:52:35,240 As the day passes on the desert surface, 604 00:52:35,240 --> 00:52:39,040 the cameras record the bats' hidden lives deep underground. 605 00:52:43,360 --> 00:52:46,520 At nightfall, once the females have left again, 606 00:52:46,520 --> 00:52:48,600 they can retrieve the footage. 607 00:52:50,240 --> 00:52:53,680 It's a long night watching through the many hours recorded. 608 00:52:55,640 --> 00:53:00,080 This is er...this has to be at around 7 or 8pm. 609 00:53:02,360 --> 00:53:07,240 Nobody has ever seen a nursery in the process of building up 610 00:53:07,240 --> 00:53:10,760 the numbers of babies that are being left behind by the mothers. 611 00:53:12,840 --> 00:53:16,000 But she's pregnant, right? Not this one? No, this one. 612 00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:17,560 And then... 613 00:53:17,560 --> 00:53:19,800 Look at this! 614 00:53:19,800 --> 00:53:24,000 Having a baby! Having a...she's having a baby! 615 00:53:30,560 --> 00:53:32,680 No es possible! 616 00:53:37,520 --> 00:53:40,000 The baby is coming out! 617 00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:43,480 THEY SPEAK SPANISH 618 00:53:43,480 --> 00:53:44,760 This is incredible. 619 00:53:47,320 --> 00:53:52,720 She's licking, scratching, and again. 620 00:53:54,440 --> 00:53:55,400 Wow! 621 00:53:59,120 --> 00:54:04,400 The camera has captured something never seen before. 622 00:54:04,400 --> 00:54:07,640 Look at the tiny forearm! The face - this is the face! Yes! 623 00:54:09,120 --> 00:54:12,960 First its head, then its wing emerges. 624 00:54:12,960 --> 00:54:17,360 Then suddenly, the baby is out and clinging to its mother. 625 00:54:19,600 --> 00:54:22,080 The wings are protecting the baby, 626 00:54:22,080 --> 00:54:24,520 so nobody can come close to the baby at all. 627 00:54:24,520 --> 00:54:27,360 We catch a glimpse of the newborn pup's face 628 00:54:27,360 --> 00:54:30,200 as its mother cleans it in her fingertips. 629 00:54:30,200 --> 00:54:34,640 Look at that! Ooh! Baby was slipping away from the mother. 630 00:54:34,640 --> 00:54:38,120 The baby must be very, very slippery 631 00:54:38,120 --> 00:54:41,720 and it's slipping down away from the control of the mother, 632 00:54:41,720 --> 00:54:45,080 so she catches it with the wing. 633 00:54:45,080 --> 00:54:48,200 The mother quickly positions the baby on her teat 634 00:54:48,200 --> 00:54:50,240 for its first feed of her milk. 635 00:54:52,040 --> 00:54:53,320 That is amazing. 636 00:54:55,000 --> 00:54:58,880 There's a few mothers. There's one, two, three, four. 637 00:54:58,880 --> 00:55:00,680 But this is all babies. 638 00:55:00,680 --> 00:55:03,920 Over the next few days, the colony swells 639 00:55:03,920 --> 00:55:08,360 with thousands upon thousands of new babies. 640 00:55:08,360 --> 00:55:11,440 This is the flagship colony that is helping me understand 641 00:55:11,440 --> 00:55:15,680 what is the actual conservation status of that species. 642 00:55:15,680 --> 00:55:21,400 If we multiply that one birth hundreds of thousands of times, 643 00:55:21,400 --> 00:55:23,600 tells me that the species has recovered. 644 00:55:28,200 --> 00:55:31,600 Rodrigo could never have dreamed 20 years ago 645 00:55:31,600 --> 00:55:33,640 that he'd be seeing such a recovery. 646 00:55:34,800 --> 00:55:38,440 His tequila bats have come home to roost. 647 00:55:42,720 --> 00:55:45,560 Our work as conservation professionals 648 00:55:45,560 --> 00:55:50,200 is not to put as many species as we can 649 00:55:50,200 --> 00:55:51,840 in endangered species lists. 650 00:55:53,840 --> 00:55:57,720 Our work is to work as hard as we can 651 00:55:57,720 --> 00:55:59,760 for as long as is needed - 652 00:55:59,760 --> 00:56:04,080 as long as is needed only - to recover that species. 653 00:56:06,480 --> 00:56:11,160 Finally, Rodrigo is ready to make an extraordinary announcement. 654 00:56:11,160 --> 00:56:14,960 There's places where I have to be in big meetings. 655 00:56:14,960 --> 00:56:17,040 You have to address the world. 656 00:56:17,040 --> 00:56:20,520 Before that happens, I picture myself in a cave, 657 00:56:20,520 --> 00:56:25,760 in the darkness, in the quiet, in the peace of a cave. 658 00:56:25,760 --> 00:56:27,320 Everything is great then. 659 00:56:30,760 --> 00:56:34,120 At the Ministry of the Environment in Mexico City, 660 00:56:34,120 --> 00:56:38,360 journalists and ministers pack the room to hear what he has to say. 661 00:56:38,360 --> 00:56:39,320 APPLAUSE 662 00:56:40,240 --> 00:56:48,240 HE SPEAKS SPANISH 663 00:56:54,240 --> 00:56:56,880 Thanks to the work of Rodrigo, his team, 664 00:56:56,880 --> 00:57:01,720 and hundreds of others across this country, the lesser long-nosed bat 665 00:57:01,720 --> 00:57:04,000 is the first species in Mexico 666 00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:07,200 to be officially saved from extinction, 667 00:57:07,200 --> 00:57:10,880 and it will be removed from the endangered species list. 668 00:57:10,880 --> 00:57:16,880 This is a clear indication that our work is actually having 669 00:57:16,880 --> 00:57:18,320 a good impact in the world. 670 00:57:19,840 --> 00:57:25,120 His method of combining research, law and community education 671 00:57:25,120 --> 00:57:29,120 has meant every single bat colony has either stabilised or increased. 672 00:57:30,880 --> 00:57:34,880 His techniques are now being applied with further success 673 00:57:34,880 --> 00:57:37,480 to save endangered species of all kinds 674 00:57:37,480 --> 00:57:39,720 across Latin America and the world. 675 00:57:41,320 --> 00:57:44,640 Rodrigo really is the bat man. 676 00:57:46,240 --> 00:57:50,480 This is a great day for the lesser long-nosed bat. 677 00:57:50,480 --> 00:57:53,720 There's a lot of work to be done 678 00:57:53,720 --> 00:57:56,560 but first, it's time to celebrate.