What Protecting Bats Has to Do with Tequila

Pollinators are vital to our environment. As of late, protecting pollinators has become an important environmental cause due to the spread of movements like Save the Bees. Movements like this can create real change in our environment. However, if the focus is just on bees, other crucial pollinators can be overlooked and will continue to be affected by avoidable human actions.

Bats are important to our ecosystem, though they carry a reputation they do not deserve. They are viewed as disease carriers or are associated with Halloween and horror movies, but in reality, the bat has a much more vital purpose.

Bats are the sole pollinators of the baobab tree in the East African savannah. This tree is known as the “African Tree of Life” because it is so vital to many wild species’ lives.

Bats are responsible for pollinating over 500 species of plants including mangos, bananas and guava. While the bee is extremely important to our environment, bats play a slightly different but just as important role in pollination.

The Baobab Tree, also known as the “Tree of Life”

Bees are attracted to bright or “daytime” colors, while bats pollinate plants with pale nocturnal flowers. Different pollinators serve different purposes, and just because one is more widely known does not mean the other should be overlooked.

What do bats have to do with tequila?

If you enjoy tequila, you can thank the long-nosed bat. That species of bat pollinates the agave plant, which is used to make mescal and tequila. Recently, the demand for tequila has gone up, and many producers have begun cutting off flowers pre-pollination to boost sugar content. As a result, producers must grow their new plants from clonal shoots rather than seed.

These cloned plants hurt the long-nosed bat because the plants lose genetic diversity every time they are cloned. This makes them more susceptible to diseases, which causes farmers to increase their use of pesticides. Pesticides, in turn, hurt pollinators.

Because bats are crucial pollinators for agave, the tequila industry must take accountability—without bats, their industry is at risk. Dr. Rodrigo Medellin, ecologist with the nickname “Bat Man of Mexico,” has been working to protect the long-nosed bat by asking tequila producers to help the long-nosed bat as well as their bottom line: if they allow part of the agave flower to pollinate, the bats can eat and  the crop can have improved genetic diversity.

This seems like a win-win, but bats continue to be at risk. The long-nosed bat is still considered endangered in the U.S and Mexico. However, tequila fans can help the long-nosed bat and the tequila industry through mindful purchases.

A few tequila producers have made efforts to allow 5 percent of their agave plants to flower, and bats have returned to those fields. You can support these producers and the bats by looking out for the “bat-friendly hologram” on tequila bottles.