User:Gibmetal77/sandbox/Gibraltar Museum Caving Unit

The Gibraltar Museum Caving Unit (GMCU) is a speleology and caving organisation based in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is an arm of the Gibraltar Museum and forms part of its Gibraltar Caves Research Project which has run since 1989 focusing on important archaeological sites around the Rock, particularly the caves of Gibraltar, while at the same time researching existing collections and caves which had previously been excavated.

The GMCU was established in 2011 by husband and wife, Prof. Clive Finlayson and Dr. Geraldine Finlayson.

The unit is led by Stewart Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum and consists of a team comprising a mixture of Gibraltar Museum staff and volunteers who carry a range of specialist skills, from surveyors to abseilors, historical and scientific researchers to people trained in confined space rescue. Their work consists of researching and surveying known cave systems in Gibraltar as well as identifying and gaining access to new ones with the aim of cataloguing these, recording their findings in detail.

Together with their sister organisation the Gibraltar Museum Underwater Research Unit, they have discovered numerous previously unknown caves, many of which are now protected and are being investigated for archaeological remains by the Gibraltar Museum. They brought the number of known caves in Gibraltar from 154 to 213 (as of October 2014).

The GMCU regularly collaborates with other organisations such as the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society (GONHS). It is currently working closely with GONHS in monitoring Gibraltar's subterranean invertebrates (troglofauna and stygofauna) as well as bats.

Bat conservation
In October 2013 the GMCU embarked on a collaborative study of Gibraltar's bat populations for the protection of roosts and conservation of species. The study is supported by Her Majesty's Government of Gibraltar's Ministries for the Environment and Heritage, with the team comprising bat workers from the United Kingdom, members of the GMCU and GONHS. The study has since confirmed two new species of bat for Gibraltar; the Isabelline Serotine bat (Eptesicus isabellinus) and the Kuhl's pipistrelle (Pipistrellus kuhlii).

Affiliations
The GMCU is a registered group member of the British Caving Association (BCA) and the British Cave Research Association (BCRA).