Tequila Aids in a Big Comeback for Long-Nosed Bats David Moscato - Earth Touch News
go to original January 12, 2017

Love tequila, love pollinating bats! (Smithsonian)

Conservation news is so often filled with stories of threatened wildlife and species on the road to extinction that it's nice to start off 2017 with a positive update. The lesser long-nosed bat of Central and North America is doing well. So well, in fact, that United States officials have proposed removing it from the federal endangered species list.

The bats (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae) were placed under federal protection in 1988, when just 14 roosting sites were known for the species. At the time, estimates put the bats' numbers at only around a thousand. Today, many of the threats that once plagued the species have been tackled, and US Fish and Wildlife reports that there are now around 200,000 bats roosting at 75 sites.

That's quite a comeback! But this isn't a case of a single scientific agency saving a species. This success story was made possible by a combined international effort including scientists and non-scientists alike.

The lesser long-nosed bat is a native of Mexico and the southwestern US, and it feeds mainly on nectar. You might not think the Sonoran Desert would be a great place for flowers, but the bats find sustenance in a variety of plants, including agave (which is used to make tequila) and the iconic saguaro cactus. The bats, in return, spread the plants' seeds and pollen, making them an essential piece of the ecosystem puzzle.

For agave plants, however, 2006 was a rough year. With nectar supply low, the bats turned to another food source: hummingbird feeders. When residents in Tucson, Arizona noticed bats frequenting their yards for dinner, the idea for a citizen-science project was born.

...Meeting the cute little critters up close and learning about the bats' role in the desert ecosystem helped people overcome their fear and appreciate the animals' value – and the tactic paid off. "We started with just a few volunteers, probably a couple dozen, and we're now up to well over a hundred," Richardson says.

Citizen scientists beyond the United States have been helping, too. In Mexico, the famous "Bat Man" Rodriguo Medellín has spent decades educating the public and working with agave farmers to spread practices that ensure the bats have flowers to feed from. This collaboration has even led to the establishment of "bat-friendly tequila". The bats were removed from Mexico's endangered species list in 2015.

Meanwhile, in the United States, federal agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service and others have also been working for a long time to manage the bats' favorite plants, as well as protecting the caves where the animals are known to roost.

Read the rest at Earth Touch News

Related: Garlic Won't Save You: Vampire Bats Now Snacking on Human Blood (C|Net)

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!