The Incredible World of Bats

2023 SCCi Distinguished Lecture Featuring Merlin Tuttle 

Merlin Tuttle is a life-long cave explorer who is also an internationally recognized ecologist, conservationist, wildlife photographer, and the founder of Bat Conservation International. Merlin has spent time in the Huntsville area researching and protecting endangered gray bats. Please join us for our second annual Distinguished Lecture Series for Merlin Tuttle’s lecture about the incredible world of bats.

When: Saturday, July 22 - 7:00 pm central

Where: Chan Auditorium at UAH (in the Business Administration Building) 4832 Holmes Ave NW, Huntsville, AL 35805

Link to Google maps with the venue location: https://tinyurl.com/545nspek

Tickets are only available via pre-order so save your seat today!

Regular Admission: $25

VIP Admission: $50 (VIP admission includes priority seating and a reception following the lecture with Merlin Tuttle.)

Thank you to our presenting sponsor - the National Speleological Society.

 ORDER YOUR TICKETS TODAY BY CLICKING HERE!

More information about the lecture:

Bats can be as cute as any panda or as strange as any dinosaur. Bumblebee bats weigh less than a penny.  Giant flying foxes can have nearly six-foot wingspans. Bats come in a variety that is difficult to comprehend until you see Merlin’s photographs. Bats are highly intelligent, maintain long-term social relationships strikingly similar to those of humans and dolphins, share information, and even adopt orphans. They also play key roles in maintaining healthy ecosystems and human economies. More than 1,400 species account for nearly a quarter of all mammals. Nevertheless, they’re in alarming decline, ranking among the world’s most frequently feared and deliberately killed mammals.

Over the past 40 years, cavers have become leaders in bat protection, educating cave owners, assisting in scientific research, developing, building, and monitoring numerous bat-friendly cave gates, and much more. The endangered gray bat’s extinction was predicted in the 1968. However, thanks in large part to help from cavers, especially those in the Huntsville Grotto, today there are millions.

If you'd like to learn more about bats, and how you can help protect them, you won’t want to miss Merlin’s talk, “The Incredible World of Bats.” He’ll report on the key conservation activities of cavers, explain opportunities for the future, and share his adventures and photo techniques. He’ll show bats fishing, living in pitcher plants and termite nests, and much more. You won’t want to miss this very special event! For a preview of his work go to merlintuttle.org. Merlin is very much looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones. If you aren’t already supporting his efforts through Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation, please consider joining him as a member.