Natural History Galleries

Bat Cave

Closed for renovations. Re-opens February 27, 2010
Level 2, Philosophers’ Walk Wing

The Bat Cave re-opens February 27, bigger, scarier and better than ever!

The concept drawing of the Introduction to the Bat Cave wall demonstrates the layout of the interpretive materials that will explore bats as mammals, bat flight, echolocation and feeding strategies.

Originally opened in 1988, the ROM’s Bat Cave is a realistic portrayal of the St. Clair Cave in Jamaica. The original exhibit was based on fieldwork by a ROM team that documented all aspects of the cave—everything but the temperature and smell of the cave was reproduced in Toronto.

Designers of the 2010 Bat Cave are drawing on the original research as well as a more recent field trip to Jamaica. While much of the cave’s original structure will remain, the cave walls will be refinished and recoloured, a more realistic floor will be added, and light levels will be lowered to enhance the mysterious atmosphere.

On February 27, Museum visitors will face an almost life-like experience that includes more bats and other creepy cave creatures, more cave sounds, and bats that move!

Highlights include an even more spectacular dramatization of the nightly exodus of the bat colony taking flight, as they leave their daytime refuge to hunt for food, and an immersive audio-visual show that explains cave formation, how bats use caves as day refuges, echolocation, and the animals that share the cave with the bats.

Podcasts

Bats!
October 06, 2009
Learn about Burton Lim's, Assistant Curator of Mammalogy, Bat research in Guyana and around the world. Burton is an expert on all types of bats and studies their biodiversity and evolution.

Video Podcast (13.2MB, 1m 54s)
Written Transcript (PDF)

Bat Cave
September 06, 2006
Technician Liliane Lortie on the appeal of bats and experiencing the Bat Cave

Video Podcast (14 MB, 2m 25s)
Written Transcript (PDF)