I was part of a college geology research team in the early 1970's when almost every weekend we visited a certain county in NYS that is practically hollow with extensive cave systems. All wet and muddy, wetsuits required with carbide lamps. as primary lighting, many requiring vertical rope work at the entrance and in the interior. In a couple of those caves we discovered and explored and mapped up to 5 miles of previously untouched by human passages (skull, McFails). In one cave there was a series of thin narrow high vertical passages ( called F, F’, F" passages) to traverse where at times the walls were covered with a continuous tapestry of closely spaced unbroken bat fur at certain times of the year. We had to time our entry and exit (often exiting up to 20 hours later) In the long low entry passage into the main portion of the cave, and we tried to time it to not be in the entry passage during dawn or dusk. If then, Bats would fly toward us and turn around without touching or bothering us in any way. No one ever had a bat land on them, nor did anyone ever get bitten. Over Christmas break one year we traveled to the caves of Carlsbad National park NM and other large caves in the region for a week of exploration and interior vertical rope work, all with permission from the Park Service.
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