The next time you sit down and enjoy a glass of tequila, make sure to toast the bats that made it possible.
Tequila is one of the first items bat advocate Rob Mies mentions when talking about bats. Bats are key pollinators, transferring pollen from one flowering plant to another, which helps fertilization and seed and fruit production. One of the major plants that bats pollinate is agave, the key ingredient in tequila. Bats are also pollinators for bananas, mangoes and avocado.
The founder of the Organization for Bat Conservation isn’t just trying to fulfill a hobby with his organization. Instead, he’s trying to educate others on a crisis. The United States is losing nearly one million bats per year, according to Mies. Much of the loss stems from an invasive fungus that entered the country nearly a decade ago. And an increasing shortage of bats could disrupt food production.
That’s why he was at the sixth annual National Pollinator Festival in Washington on Friday, showcasing bats of his own.
The festival was hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to promote pollination and raise awareness on the increasing shortage of pollinators such as bats and bees.
Pollination accounts for nearly $40 billion worth of crops annually, according to the Pollinator Partnership. More than 100 types of fruits and vegetables rely on pollination by bats, bees, beetles, moths and the much less scary butterfly.
The festival was part of National Pollinator Week. At the event, Mies was able to pitch attendees on why they should build their own bat houses and welcome the often-feared creature to their own backyards.
And if he can’t do that, he hopes he can at least convince people that bats won’t bite them or drink their blood, he joked.
Mies said it can be a challenge to turn others into bat advocates. There’s a stigma toward the dark, looming creatures.
“People assume bats are big and scary,” Mies said. “They are actually small and kind of cute.”
Mies said he wants less scary movies about bats and more awareness about the benefits they provide like pollination — and tequila.
Pollinators also have plenty of reason to celebrate bees. One of every three bites of food is pollinated by a bee, according to the USDA.
More than 3,000 bees were at the festival, at a booth featuring a bee colony.
Though, like bats, bees are at risk. Nearly one-third of honey bee colonies have collapsed since 2006, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Researchers refer to the wide disappearance as Colony Collapse Disorder and attribute it to pesticides, invasive parasites and other viruses.
The loss, though, has been a boon for beekeeping, Andrew Ulsamer said. An entomologist with the USDA, Ulsamer said it’s “inspiring a lot of people” to take up beekeeping.
“They either want to help out the situation or it’s something they think would be really neat,” Ulsamer said.
Bee colonies can increase pollination tremendously, Ulsamer said. He said most bees can fly at least one mile away from their colony to pollinate plants, allowing a single bee colony to have a deep impact.
“Just think of everything that’s within a mile. It covers a lot of ground.”
