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| ■ブラッケン洞窟には、多くの人がコウモリの飛び立つ姿を見にやって来る |
 In central Texas, there's a special cave that holds quite a surprise: 20 million bats.
 Visitors come to Bracken Cave each night when the sun sets to see the remarkable emergence of these small mammals as they head out to find food. At least one man was awe-struck when he saw the spectacle.
 "I could come here, I believe, every night. It's awesome, and I have never tired of it."（David Bamberger, "Batman"）
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| ■繁殖期の8、9月にいっせいにえさを求めて飛び立つメキシコオヒキコウモリの群れ |
 Six years ago David Bamberger fell in love with Mexican free-tailed bats. He took interest in their plight and decided to do something about it.
 "If you'll pay close attention about this time of year, in August and September, you'll see where the babies are all flying and the food supply goes down and the bats, they're starting to find places to sleep in the schoolhouse or in...in the churches or in the courthouse. And you see that on the news every year about this time. The...the problem is that habitat is being encroached upon by humans and somewhat distracted. We have that problem. These are migrating animals."（David Bamberger）
 So Bamberger decided to build more than a bat cave; he built a bat mansion, or, as he calls it, a chiroptorium.
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| ■自然の洞窟に近い形態で、かつ人間が観察できるように設計されたカイロプトリウム |
 "Chiroptera is the order for bats. We describe it as a series of domes with connecting passageways for the free-will use of mammals, that closely resembles the natural habitat of a cave."（David Bamberger）
 Up to a half-a-million bats may one day call this place home. Bamberger says baby bats can congregate at the rate of 500 per square foot. Adult bats can squeeze only 300 in the same space.
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| ■自然環境とコウモリの保護に情熱を注ぐバンバーガー氏 |
 Scientists will be able to observe the bats through one-way windows using infrared lights. Bamberger will also use the space to teach future generations of bat lovers.
 "Seventeen years ago I dedicated my life, and the ranch itself, to environmental education and conservation, trying to teach the importance of...of our role as humans in the environment."（David Bamberger）
 There's another upside to the chiroptorium, and it's not nearly as romantic: bat guano.
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| ■コウモリのグアノは優れた有機質肥料で、市場での高い需要が約束されている |
 "Well, guano's one of the best...the highest nitrogen organic fertilizers. It's actually the manure that bats create, and it's very high in nitrogen and very much in demand. To be candid with you, the...the demand for bat guano right now in the United States alone exceeds the available supply. So there is a ready market for the guano."（David Bamberger）
 With the amount of night-flyers Bamberger expects, he'll be able to deliver a lot of guano.
 "In our chiroptorium, we can drive in with a front-end loader and scoop it up and take it out and dump it...it in a...a truck."（David Bamberger）
 Bamberger says he can earn up to $10,000 a year from his bats while he's spreading the word about the species he loves.
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