#deercave

Down into the darkness of Borneo’s caves there a multitude of species. Where you could think there are only total black and oblivion, life thrives thanks to those species with a double life. In the next days I’ll illustrate part of this immense and extreme ecosystem based on energy flowing from the green lush “outside”, to the gloomy but amazing “inside”. #borneo #cavelife #caves #caving #exploration #natgeo #ecosystem #malaysia #deercave #mulunationalpark #picoftheday @ilcp_photographers https://www.instagram.com/p/B_ITwopg5n0/?igshid=1ove1fo30egkb

Deer Cave, Mulu National Park (swipe left for more photographs) It’s a 3.8km trek to get to the Deer Cave. Our guide starts us just after 3pm to get us to the cave, we spend time admiring the huge caverns and formations of stalactites, stalagmites and helictites. We gather at the observation point where we get a good view of the Deer Cave entrance at 5.45pm and at 6pm, the wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bats (chaerephon plicatus, estimated at 2-3 million) nesting in the cave begin their nocturnal fly out, to feed on an estimated 15 tonnes of flying insects. #deercave #mulunationalpark #mulunationalparkworldherritage #wrinklelippedbats #chaerephonplicatus #instacave (at Gunung Mulu National Park)

Every evening at 6pm without fail, the crispy leaf bats fly out of the entrance to the Deer Cave in their hundreds of thousands. They fly out in the evening (between 6-7pm) to feed, mainly on insects and they fly back into the cavernous Deer Cave in the morning. Of course the floor of the cave is covered in a lot of guano. This evening migration is stuff fantasies are made of. The wonders of nature. #bats #flyingout #deercave #mulunationalpark #unescoworldheritagearea #instabats (at Gunung Mulu National Park)