Endangered Bats Travel 100 Miles North to Find Food

Mexican long-nosed bats are rewriting their migration maps, and scientists just discovered they're traveling 100 miles farther north than anyone knew possible.

These endangered pollinators have been making annual summer trips from Mexico to remote corners of Texas and New Mexico for generations. But last year, DNA swabs from agave plants and hummingbird feeders near New Mexico's Gila National Forest revealed something remarkable: the bats had pushed into entirely new territory.

Drought is likely driving the change. The bats' traditional feeding grounds in New Mexico's Bootheel region have been hit hard by dry conditions, and the agave plants there aren't flowering like they used to. So the bats are adapting, searching for healthier nectar sources to fuel their demanding journeys.

Each extra 30 miles can add another full night of flying for these tiny mammals. Their survival depends on finding sweet agave nectar along the way, which makes conservation efforts more critical than ever.

Only about 10,000 Mexican long-nosed bats remain in the wild. They were listed as endangered in 1988, and their slow breeding makes recovery challenging. Each female bat has just one pup per year, so population growth happens gradually.

The agave plants they pollinate face similar challenges. These desert succulents can take more than a decade to flower and produce seeds, creating a delicate dance between species that both reproduce slowly.

The Ripple Effect

Conservationists aren't just watching this adaptation happen. They're helping shape it. Since 2018, researchers and volunteers across Mexico and the United States have planted 185,000 agave plants along what they call the nectar corridor.

More than 100 partners have joined Bat Conservation International in this effort. Private ranchers, local communities, and government agencies are working together to collect seeds, nurture plants in nurseries for up to two years, then transplant them in high-priority areas where the bats need them most.

The DNA discoveries help target these planting efforts with precision. By swabbing plants and feeders, scientists can identify exactly where the bats are traveling and ensure nectar sources appear along their expanding routes.

This collaboration is protecting both the bats and the genetic diversity of agaves across North America. The plants depend on the bats for pollination just as much as the bats depend on the plants for fuel.

With nearly 200,000 agaves already planted and teams continuing to expand the nectar corridor, these endangered bats have a fighting chance to thrive in their changing world.