It's Bat Time Again!

Saturday-Sunday, March 29-30, 2025

It’s Bat Time Again!

Today’s special animal friend is the Lesser Long-Nosed Bat, Leptonycteris yerbabuenae, the U.S. Forest Service’s native wildflower pollinator of the month. This species, also known as Sanborn’s long-nosed bat, is native to Central America, Mexico, and parts of the southwestern United States. Another name for it is the Tequila Bat, because it pollinates the agave plants that are used to produce that beverage. Along with agave, they seek out night-blooming cactus flowers on species such as saguaro and organ pipe, and they also eat some cactus fruits.

I remember visiting Saguaro National Park in the early 1970s.

And Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument:

But I wasn’t looking for bats. And if I had been, I wouldn’t have seen them, because they’re nocturnal! The flowers of the saguaro cactus are open for only one night. During that night, the lesser long-nosed bat and its companion, the Mexican Long-tongued Bat, Choeronycteris mexicana, swarm around the cacti. They bury their heads deep into the blossoms, getting pollen all over their fur and then carrying it to another cactus.

Later in the year, when the cactus fruits are ripe, the bats return to eat the fruits and help disperse the seeds. After their spring and summer in the United States, the bats migrate south to spend the remainder of the year in Mexico or even further south.

Lesser long-nosed bats are about 3 inches long and weigh less than one ounce. Males and females look very similar. They have a long snout and a little leaf-nose, and no visible tail. Their long, abrasive tongues collect nectar from plants and are also used to clean their teeth. They can fly very long distances but are not, unlike insect-hunting bats, very maneuverable. In inhabited areas, they are known to raid hummingbird feeders.

They roost and breed in caves or abandoned mines, gathering in colonies of up to thousands. Depending on the time of year, a roost may be full during the day, with the bats dispersing to feed on nectar at night, or it may contain only nursing mothers and pups. They mate in either November-December or May-June, depending on the population’s migration pattern. During mating season, the males develop smelly scent glands between their shoulders; it is assumed that this attracts females. Gestation is six months, and one pup is born at the peak of flower-blooming for that habitat. The pups can fly in about a month and are weaned in about two months.

Lesser long-nosed bats are rated Near Threatened by IUCN. In the 1980s, they were declared Endangered by both the United States and Mexico, but conservation efforts in both countries have led to their de-listing. Populations and habitat are monitored to support the population.