Opening on February 27, the new Bat Cave promises to be more interactive, more realistic and scarier than ever. For anyone who’s skeptical, here’s a sneak peek into the gallery in progress.
Originally opened in 1988, the ROM’s Bat Cave was based on fieldwork by a ROM team that documented all aspects of the St. Clair Cave in Jamaica. Designers of the 2010 Bat Cave are drawing on the original research as well as a more recent field trip to Jamaica to create an almost life-like experience.
The Bat Cave is currently closed for the renovations. A temporary wall has been built on Level 2 of the Museum, at the West end of the Life In Crisis: Schad Gallery of Biodiversity, to conceal the construction site.
Behind the wall, ROM preparators are busy repopulating the cave with bats, snakes, bugs and other creatures that live in Jamaica’s St. Clair Cave. Many of the specimens, like the cave itself, are models that replicate the true environment for a convincing (and spine-tingling) experience.
Gallery preparator, Molly Minnick, carefully ties invisible string to a bat model before it is hung from the ceiling. Each model was individually molded and hand-painted by a ROM artist to resemble the various species that live in the St. Clair Cave.
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What ??? THere All fake ..ERRG >:( Now Im REALLLY MAD