Here's your good news story from the animal kingdom today: the lesser long-nosed bat is thriving.
In fact, you might want to raise a toast to the little guy…a tequila toast.
In 2018, the animal became "the first U.S. bat species to officially recover from the imminent threat of extinction," according to National Geographic Magazine.
The little bat colonizes caves and abandoned mines from southern Mexico to Arizona, living on the nectar trail of agave plants. But their roosts have been repeatedly disrupted or destroyed by traffickers in humans and drugs and even noisy recreational cavers. And their food sources have been disrupted by makers of Mexico's biggest legal export: Tequila.
While volunteers have helped by putting up bat-friendly cave gates, tequila has been another problem.
The bat's primary food source, agave nectar, has been in decline. Bats need blooms to feed and pollinate agave plants. Tequila makers need to cut down plants before they bloom. The agave plant itself has been weakened because growers clone plants, rather than letting the bats naturally pollinate them.
National Geographic explorer Rodrigo Medellin started a program to certify tequila producers as bat-friendly if they let a portion of their agave plants flower and the fields be pollinated naturally.
For now, pass the salt and lime: it is working. There has been enough response to simultaneously aid the harvesting of the agave and preserve bats. Medellin hopes to continue his work and to provide wins for the bats as well as tequila aficionados.
