LABIAT, Lakadong (Gebauer 2001) (Krang)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A wide open, irregularly rectangular cave entrance (representatively 11 m wide and 4 m high), faces south-west and gives access to a horizontal cave, which is characterised by almost naked cave walls and a floor covered with gravitationally dislocated angular chips and stones (breakdown). ETYMOLOGY: The Lakadong Khasi cave name -Krang Labiat- means Bat Cave (note 1). SITUATION: Immediately beneath the Lakadong Sandstone (caprock), of which much has collapsed into the underlying Lakadong Limestone, and on the eastern edge of the Lakadong Plateau at a spot about 750 m in a direct line approximately north-east from the church in Umat (N25°11'06”: E092°16'07”: 759 m asl) and a kilometre south of the village centre of Umlatdoh (N25°11'50”: E092°16'40” WGS84). CULTURAL HISTORY - Human use: Burned remnants of straw torches and long hitting sticks combined with the local fame of the site can be interpreted to indicate that the cave is a bat hunting ground. CAVE LIFE: About one or two ozen unidentified, relatively small sized individual bats (Chiroptera) had retreated in the afternoon of 23rd February 2001 to various nooks and corners in the darker part of the cave.ozen unidentified, relatively small sized individual bats (Chiroptera) had retreated in the afternoon of 23rd February 2001 to various nooks and corners in the darker part of the cave.