News Life Carlsbad’s 8 million ‘lost’ bats likely never existed Thermal imaging and algorithms challenge famous estimate By Susan Milius January 23, 2009 at 8:04 pm - More than 2 years ago Share this:Share Share via email (Opens in new window) Email Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X Click to print (Opens in new window) Print Eight million is a lot of bats to lose, and now a new unpublished study may explain what happened to the possibly lost bats of Carlsbad Cavern. EMERGING FROM DARKNESS A view of Carlsbad Cavern’s mouth shows bats swarming out to forage.