{"id":244627,"date":"2026-04-11T04:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T04:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/244627\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T04:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T04:07:08","slug":"the-man-behind-the-bats-dr-merlin-tuttle-on-conservation-and-our-congress-ave-attraction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/244627\/","title":{"rendered":"The man behind the bats! Dr. Merlin Tuttle on conservation and our Congress Ave attraction"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a morning show built around Austin pride, few local icons fit the bill quite like the bats under the Congress Avenue Bridge \u2014 and the man who helped protect them.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The famous colony of approximately 1.5 million Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) living in crevices beneath the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas has attracted millions of visitors to enjoy its spectacular emergences over the past 35 years. Small signs simply warn not to handle the bats, and despite countless close encounters no one has ever been harmed. The bats attract millions of tourist dollars each summer and consume tons of crop and yard pests each night.Courtesy \u00a9MerlinTuttle.org<\/p>\n

We Are Austin host Trevor Scott welcomed bat conservationist Dr. Merlin Tuttle for a conversation about his decades of work educating people and protecting what he called one of nature\u2019s most misunderstood animals. Tuttle\u2019s efforts have stretched from helping preserve the famous Congress Avenue Bridge bat colony to leading conservation work on a global scale \u2014 a career that\u2019s helped change how people think about bats.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Tuttle shared what inspired his interest in these unique and important animals.<\/p>\n

“Well, when I was in high school, I lived near a bat cave, and I saw the bats doing things that the book said they didn’t do, and that got me intrigued. And then the more I learned, the more I discovered about bats that was incredibly fascinating. Their world is full of surprises. For example, in my talk on May 2nd, I’ll show bats as large as eagles, as small as bumblebees, as pretty as butterflies, as cute as pandas, and as strange as dinosaurs. <\/p>\n

\"Merlin<\/p>\n

Merlin Tuttle calling a hairy big-eared bat (Micronycteris hirsuta) to his hand for mealworms in Panama. Courtesy \u00a9MerlinTuttle.org<\/p>\n

During the interview, Scott highlighted Tuttle\u2019s long-running focus on both research and public education. He pointed to the Congress Avenue Bridge colony as a key part of Austin\u2019s natural identity. The discussion also centered on why bats matter beyond their reputation, focusing on their importance to ecosystems and everyday life.<\/p>\n

“Most people are totally unaware of the fact that bats are beautiful, highly intelligent, sophisticated animals. They have seen only a bat occasionally, which they found was sick and dying. And we don’t look too good when we’re sick and dying either, right? But, they have been told oftentimes that bats are dangerous and carriers of disease, and that just really bats are among the safest animals on the planet.”<\/p>\n

Bats contribute to more than just our ecosystem. They are a vital part of our state’s economy, too.<\/p>\n

“If we just leave them alone and let them do their thing, they’re incredibly helpful to us. Here in Texas, they saved, according to the Parks and Wildlife Department, $1.4 billion this summer and just avoided crop damage. Our bats at the Congress Avenue bridge have contributed $200 million in tourism. Worldwide, bats are incredibly important. And our lives would be very different; in fact, we wouldn’t survive without them.”<\/p>\n

\"Merlin<\/p>\n

Merlin Tuttle observing millions of Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) emerge from Bracken Cave in Texas. Courtesy \u00a9MerlinTuttle.org<\/p>\n

Scott also noted an upcoming event for anyone curious to learn more: Tuttle is scheduled to give a talk on May 2nd called \u201cThe Secret Lives of Bats.\u201d The conversation previewed that the talk will explore bat behavior and help demystify the animals for the public.<\/p>\n

The interview also encouraged viewers to find ways to support bat conservation and to keep up with Tuttle\u2019s ongoing work.<\/p>\n

WATCH THE FULL VIDEO ABOVE!\"The<\/p>\n

The man behind the bats! Dr. Merlin Tuttle on conservation and our Congress Ave attraction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a morning show built around Austin pride, few local icons fit the bill quite like the bats…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-244627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}