ENVIRONMENT
Endangered Mexican long-nosed bat found farther north than ever before
Bats have been located in area near Gila Wilderness
Published
An endangered bat species has traveled farther north in New Mexico than previously known, scientists confirmed by testing agaves and hummingbird feeders for bat DNA.
“Having (environmental DNA) as a tool is invaluable to our understanding of this endangered species and will help us better conserve the species and its habitat,” Rachel Burke, Bat Conservation International’s agave restoration coordinator, said in a statement.
The Mexican long-nosed bat — also called the greater long-nosed bat — migrates based on the flowering of agave plants. In late summer and early fall, the bats come to New Mexico where they can drink sweet agave nectar. When winter comes, the bats travel south to Mexico, where agave is still blooming.
For many years, the bats have been living seasonally in New Mexico’s bootheel, but scientists with Bat Conservation International, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and the U.S. Forest Service confirmed the bats have traveled farther north into the Gila National Forest and Double E Wildlife Management Area.
Researchers confirmed the bat species has traveled 100 miles north of the Mexican long-nosed bat roost site in Hidalgo County. The extended range could be a reflection of warming temperatures affecting agave plants farther south.
“We're seeing areas like the Gila region further north that are getting a bit more rain, they're a bit wetter, and they're a bit more resilient to this ongoing drought in the region,” said Kristen Lear, Agave Restoration Initiative director at Bat Conservation International. “So agaves are doing better there, and these bats are moving into those areas looking for food to help sustain their migration.”
People living near the Gila in communities like Silver City had been seeing lesser long-nosed bats, another nectar-drinking bat species that lives in New Mexico, drinking from their hummingbird feeders at night. Researchers wondered if some of the bats being observed were actually the endangered Mexican long-nosed bat, Lear said. The species is bigger than the lesser long-nosed bat and has some small differences like fur on its tail membrane.
Instead of trying to capture bats, the researchers chose a non-invasive approach: environmental DNA. When bats feed, they lap up nectar, leaving some spit behind. That bat DNA can last a couple of days. Researchers used polyester swabs to collect bat DNA from hummingbird feeders and agave plants. In New Mexico, Mexican long-nosed bats usually feed from Palmer’s agave, but researchers also swabbed Parry’s agave to see if the bats were using those plants as well, Lear said.
The swabs were sent to the Bat Ecology and Genetics Lab at Northern Arizona University and tested to see if there was DNA from one of the three nectar bat species in the U.S. To test a sample for all three species costs approximately $100, but collecting the swabs takes much less time, permitting and training than traditional mist netting to catch bats.
The swabs were taken in 2024, and the Mexican long-nosed bat’s northerly visits were confirmed in early 2026.
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish’s Share with Wildlife program and the Land of Enchantment fund will provide approximately $100,000 over two years to continue the nectar bat surveys on the Double E Wildlife Management Area and agave planting on the Wildlife Management Area and surrounding Forest Service land. Some of those funds have already gone to support eDNA sampling.
The Bat Conservation Initiative will keep doing surveys across an even broader ranger, farther north and west into Arizona, Lear said.
Bat Conservation International is also working on restoring native agave populations across the Southwest and Mexico, the bat’s entire migratory range. That includes boosting agave populations in the Gila area, Lear said.
“The drought is impacting a lot of the core area of these bats, so they're having to spread out further to find healthy resources,” Lear said. “A lot of those healthy, agave resources are in these more northern areas or at higher altitude and elevation, so those areas are going to become more important as things get hotter and drier.”
