The Cuevas de los Murciélagos are a complex of two volcanic caves on
La Palma
La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...
,
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
. They are located at the Nacientes de Marcos y Cordero (springs of Marcos and Cordero) near the municipality of
San Andrés y Sauces
San Andrés y Sauces is a municipality on the island of La Palma, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. It is situated in the northeastern part of the island. The population of the municipality is 4,473 (2013)[ ...]
in the north of the island. Cueva de los Murciélagos I is located in an altitude of 1220 m, Cueva de los Murciélagos II in an altitude of 1000 m. Both caves have a length of 100 m. The access is not difficult. Though it is a descending tube it is good to walk. On the endpoint of the Cueva de los Murciélagos I is a small firepit in the soil which is slightly more complicated to access. In some areas it has a steep slope. It's a rather old cave where erosion caused by the years is evident, hence the debris is very abundant and they are large blocks of terrestrial material.
The caves host an important breeding colony of the
Canary big-eared bat
The Canary long-eared bat (''Plecotus teneriffae''), also known as the Canary big-eared bat or Tenerife long-eared bat, is a species of vesper bat endemic to the Canary Islands. According to the IUCN, it is vulnerable to the risk of extinction. T ...
. In the 1980s the Cueva de los Murciélagos I become known as paleontological site where fossil remains of the
La Palma giant lizard (''Gallotia auaritae'') and the
Trias greenfinch (''Carduelis triasi'') were unearthed.
References
*Medina, A.L., J.L. Martín, I. Izquierdo, J.J. Hernández and P. Oromí: ''Cavidades volcánicas en la isla de La Palma (Islas Canarias) I. Descripción y consideraciones sobre su fauna.'' 7th Intemational Symposium On Vulcanospeleology, 1994:p 141–170
*Fernández, O., R. García, F. Dumpiérrez, D. Gómez, F. Rodriguez: ''Las cavidades volcánicas del término municipal de San Andrés y Sauces'' In Volcania, Volume 9, December 2011:p 6–39
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murcielagos, Cuevas de los
Paleontological sites of Europe
Caves of the Canary Islands
Lava tubes