'Nature's Ghosts' - Caught On Film

Eerie-looking ghost bats have been filmed in the wild for the first time.

A BBC camera team filmed the bats flying deep inside an abandoned mine in the Northern Territory in Australia.

Ghost bats are the largest type of predatory bat and are thought to kill other bats on the wing, but little is known about their biology.

The BBC team gained exclusive access to film the creatures living in an old disused gold mine for the programme Deadly 60.

"I would say it was one of the spookiest experiences I've ever had," says Deadly 60 presenter Steve Backshall.

"There's cockroaches and assassin bugs and all sorts of other nasties crawling all over the walls. Then all of a sudden these ghostly white bats just appear in the air. The sound of their wings is just extraordinary. And they are big, they are really, really big bats."

Ghost bats are the largest species of carnivorous bat. They usually feed on a range of animals including insects, frogs, lizards, birds and other bats.

"They were the first shots ever of this incredible ghostly bat, with the light shining through the wing membranes," says Backshall. "It was a really ethereal experience."

Backshall says he only wishes his team had the time to film the ghost bats actually hunting.

"I would love to have the time to film them hunting. To actually film a ghost bat taking another in mid air. To see one snatching a frog off a leaf. Those kind of things would be extraordinary. There's so much left to discover about how these bats go about their business."