Lesser long-nosed bats were already in trouble due to habitat loss, but
thanks to determined conservation efforts made it off the U.S. Endangered
Species List in 2018—the first bat species ever to do so. Down to about a
thousand animals in the 1980s, the species had bounced back to around
200,000 throughout Mexico and the U.S. Southwest.
Yet the continued boom in mezcal, coupled with climate change—which makes
agaves flower earlier, before the bats arrive during their migration—could
reverse these gains, conservationists warn. A 2020 study reported that the
species, which is considered near threatened by the International Union
for Conservation of Nature, is declining again.
The plants die when harvesters remove their
piña
—the heart of the agave and source of their coveted sugar, which is
distilled into alcohol. Some organizations, such as the Mexico-based
grassroots group Colectivo Sonora Silvestre, are working with liquor
companies to encourage a sustainable selective harvest, letting some
plants flower just for the bats.