This cave was located about 20 miles from downtown San Antonio, Texas. It was said to be jam-packed with over twenty million bats, making it the world's largest gathering of mammals.
But with so many bats inside, the population of other mammals was relatively low, perhaps consisting of just tens of thousands of rats. And, of course, bats are the only mammals that can fly.
The bats in Blanken Cave didn't hibernate; they were a migratory species. They roosted here when the weather was warm, and when it turned cold, they flew south to warmer regions like Mexico for the winter.
The Lunar New Year celebrations were over, and the first month of the year had passed. Since Texas was a fairly southern state, it had already become quite warm. Li Xiang figured that even if not all the bats had returned, the majority of them probably had.
