The Texas Caver Vol
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the Texas Caver Vol. 31, No.1; February, 1986 CONTENTS Feature Articles ............ ............... ........................ ................................... 2 Speleo News .. .... .............................. ...................... .................................. 7 Personality ....... ............. ...... ............ .. ..................... ................................. 8 T SA News .................................. ................... ............... ......................... 11 Committee Reports ... ...... ............ .. ... ......... ........ ..... ..... ......................... 12 Book Review ........................................................................... .............. 14 Grotto Reports ...................... ............................ ... ............ ........ ............ 15 Illumination .......... .. ..... ........................ ........................... ............... ....... 19 Trip Reports ...... .... ........... ............... ...... ................. .............................. 20 FRONT COVER PHOTOGRAPH Dr. Merlin Tutt le with Yuri, his flying fox . Photo by Jay Jorden at Tuttle's talk in Dallas. INSIDE COVER PHOTOGRAPH Rappeling in Oklahoma in unnamed Oklahoma cave (JJ). BACK COVER PHOTOGRAPH: Tuttle in goat cave collecting specimen of Myatis (J J) 30 Years Ago Co-Editors Jay Jorden John Spence from Joe C. Pearce 1518 Devon Circle Box 8025 Dallas, TX 75217 Austin, T X 78713-8025 214-39&-9272 512-251-5788 Times haven't really changed all that much, the Texas Caver issue of January 1956 shows. Wi th only Dallas Staff Managing Editor Rob Kolstad Data Entry Sheila Knight three issues of the Caver out, editor Joe C. Pe a r <'~ said Art Ted Tutor publishing costs had caught up with the staff. " There Austin Starr Word Processing Bill Elliott fore, beginning with this issue, we are printing on bot.h Rodney Leist sides of the paper in an effort to reduce co s t ~; , " he Patsy Leist announced. CAVE RESCUE Call Collect 512-585-0234 Cavers were still susceptible to venomous s'.',·pents and biting bugs. A trip report on R ed Arrow Cap men The Texas Caver is a bi-monthly publication of the Texas Speleologi cal Association (TSA), an internal organization of the National Speleo tioned that two Diamondback rattlesnakes :twaited logical Society (NSS). It is published in February, April, June, August, cavers a few feet inside the crawlw ay entrance. h :] HeI October, and Dece mber. mer, who penned the issue's cover drawing, dis" :vered The T exas Caver openly invites all cavers to submit articl es, news the snakes. And Pearce noted that two people W f,:·' hos eve nts, cartoons, cave maps, photographs (35 mm slide or any size black & wh ite or color print), caving techniques, and any other pitalized in Austin with Rocky Mountain spotted fever. material for pub li cation. He said they had entered a tick-infested caves . ~ v eral days before they became ill. Subscription rate is $5 per year for TSA members and out of state sub scribers. TSA dues are $4/year. Purchase single and back issues for It's a small world. Arthur Carroll recogniz e( ,'ellow $2.00 each by mail, post paid; $1.00 each at conventions. Send sub caver Carroll Slemaker at Cachuamilpa Caverns i lI'!ex sc ri ption and back iss ue requests to th e Texas Caver, U. T. Station, Box 8025, Austin, T exas 78713-8025. Please include old address in ico during the Christmas Holidays, 1955. Even ti n, we address change correspond ence. learn, Slemaker was planning to explore two ~ n der POSTMASTER: Send address changes to th e Texas Cave r, U. T . Sta ground rivers that flowed nearby and wanted so n, locals tion , Box 8025, Austin, Texas 78713-8025. to accompany him on a boating trip. (Editor '8 n' e: the caves, including R io San Geronimo, were later i l pped DEADLINES: Articles, announcements, and material for publication must be submitted to the editor by the 12th of the month preceding by the Association for Mexican Cave Studies.) publication. Also included was a trip report to Carey La\: Cave, EXCHANGES: The Texas Caver wi ll exchange newsletters with other a man-made cavity in Cherokee County; an ar :Ie on grottos at the Editors' discretion. Contact one of the co-editors. caving hazards and a piece on "Animals in C3 UT Speleological Society faculty adviser Austin COPYRIGHT 1985 Texas Speleological Association. Internal organiza tions of the National Speleological Society may reprint any item first and an editorial. appearing in the Texas Caver as long as proper credit is given and a Pearce wrote, "For all we know, Texas m copy of the newsletter contain ing the matcrial is mailed to the co editors. Other organizations should contact the co-editors. the greatest number and the most spectacular any state in the union. As serious speleologists an' Printed in the Republic of Texas (..., ) by The Speleo Press, Austin, Ameri ca. Typcset at CONVEX Computer Corporation, Richardson, Texans, we would like to establish that fact." T exas. the Texas Caver Page 3 "But no public citizen in all the state of Texas has ever Texas Bat Conservation died from a bat disease." by Jay Jorden He compared those figures with deaths from their pets, lightning, bee stings and other maladies. The founder of Bat Conservation International has "It all gets back to this fear of the unknown, and been in the Lone Star State less than a month, and since we know the least about them, we fear them the already Merlin Tuttle has been visiting bat caves, talk most," he said. in g to landowners and preservationists and hitting -the "There are a couple of simple precautions we all lecture circuit - but he says it's worth it. should take," he said. "One is to guard our dogs and Tuttle, formerly curator of mammals at the cats against rabies, whether they are exposed to other Milwaukee Public Museum, said he moved BCI to Austin carriers or not. Two, don't handle any wild animal because of the opportunities for bat study and conserva unless you're an expert. Any animal you are able to pick tion in Texas. up and handle is liable to be sick, and that's particularly "The Austin area will be the ideal place for me to true of bats. ... If you leave them alone, the odds of study bats and to educate people about bats, because it them ever harming you, rabid or not, is about the same prob ably has more kinds of bats than any other state," as if you will be struck on the head by a meteorite as said Tuttle. you walk out the front door this afternoon." "Austin has more bats per capita than any other tow n in the United States," he said, adding that Texas Left alone, bats are extremely valuable, Tuttle said. caves encompass the greatest bat populations in the "Worldwide, bats are by far the most important cou ntry . natural controls of insect pests and mosquitos," he said. In mid-March, Tuttle made his first bat collection "Throughout the world's tropics, their pollination and sinc e the move to Austin at Goat Cave, located in a sub seed dispersal activities are vital to survival of rain divi"ion. It was his first visit to a cave in the Texas capi forests and to associated economies, worth hundreds of tal after moving down from Wisconsin. millions of dollars annually. Earlier in the month, he spoke to more than 200 "They are increasingly sought after as model people at the Museum of Natural History at Fair Park in animals in medical research," he said. " For example, Dall as. studies of bats have made major contributions to areas At this and other stops on a lecture tour, he such as development of navigational aids for the blind, app ealed to his audience to join BCI and support Texas development of birth control and artificial insemination cave conservation. But he also had a job of educating techniques, development of vaccines, .. even to a better listen ers and debunking long-heard myths about bats' understanding of low temperature surgical procedures." dangerousness. He said that in Texas, guano from caves is selling "I've visited caves on every continent, spending for possibly millions of dollars as fertilizer. days at a time down in caves with as many as 20 million "Suffice it to say that bats are a need around the bats; I've never been attacked, I've never seen an aggres world as far as naturally beneficial mammals," he said. sive bat," said Tuttle. "Yet, sadly, everywhere they are found, just about, on "I've investigated countless claims of bat attacks sight they are killed by people who misunderstand them and never found a single one to be valid." simply because they are small, shy and nocturnal. As an example, he said a woman was out in her "Their populations are declining at alarming rates; yard when a bat swooped in for a lunch of mosquitos. many species are already extinct, and more will be so But, thinking the bat was after her, the woman ran within the next few years if they are not helped," he toward her house in terror and scratched her arm on a said. rose bush in her haste. Tuttle then presented slides depicting a tremendous "She took one look later and said, 'Oh, my God, he variety of bats found worldwide. got me!'" Tuttle said. The woman underwent rabies "Nearly one-quarter of all the world's mammal treatm ent and told her story to the local news media but species are bats," he said. "That's nearly one thousand Tu ttle's investigation disproved the claims. kinds .. " "In some four decades of record keeping, in the The royal bat, found in Zimbabwe, has a crest that United States, there have been only 10 human deaths is spread like a peacock. attri buted to any disease associated with a bat," he said. "You know, the stranger the face of a bat, the more Page 4 the Texas Caver beautiful the animal is to the scientist who understands with a stick of dynamite and kill the entire colony in one the sophistication of bat echo-location systems," he said.