MURCIÉLAGO.

Article by Tony Corona, V&P Nurseries

Over 180,000 different plant species require the help of pollinators, such as butterflies, moths, bees, and hummingbirds.  That number represents somewhere between 75% to 90% of all flowering plants on Earth.  They are essential to the food chain and life as we know it, in fact, one out every three bites taken by humans are there because of pollinators.   

Much of the flora in our unique Desert Southwest biome also requires the aid of pollinators.  Anyone who has spent time in this place we call home has seen the beautiful array this working fauna.  However, there is one seldom seen member of this group that is just as valuable as the insects and hummingbirds, the bat.  There are two species of nectar-feeding bats, the lesser long-nosed bat and the Mexican long-tongued bat that are specific to our region.  Both species migrate hundreds of miles from Mexico into Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.  And both of these vital species are on the Federal Endangered Species List. 

These small mammals, roughly three inches in length and weighing less than one ounce, use their long snouts and longer tongues to feed on the nectar of flowers of cactus, yucca, agaves, and succulents.  The pollen of these white or pale flowers sticks to their tiny, hairy heads and is transferred from one plant to the next as they feed in throughout the night.  In fact, its they color of these flowers that makes them easier to spot at night.  These blossoms usually close by the following morning which makes nighttime pollination a necessity. 

The keystone cactus of the Sonora Desert (The BEST Desert on the planet), the majestic Saguaro, which can reach heights over fifty feet, relies almost exclusively on bats for pollination.  By some estimates, bats account for up to ninety percent of pollination of night-blooming plants in the Southwest.  These and other cactus and succulents are vital to the delicate ecosystem of the Southwest.  They provide food via their fruit and seeds and their structure provides perches, nesting spots, shelter for many types of birds, small mammals, and lizards.  Humans also rely on bats to pollinate in the Desert, the Blue Agave, the chief source of Tequila, is also almost exclusively pollinated by bats.