Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 19 april 2018
Bat key to tequila trade gets off U.S. endangered species list

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRY- or reduced to the point Wildlife Service is preparing
AN where they can consider a monitoring plan that will
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) the species recovered. focus on roosting sites and
— Wildlife managers in the In Mexico, tequila produc- availability of forage.
American Southwest say a ers who rely on agaves are Federal land managers in
once-rare bat important integrating more harvest New Mexico and Arizona,
to the pollination of plants and cultivation practices including at the U.S. Army's
used to produce tequila in recognition of the bats Fort Huachuca, already
has made a comeback being key pollinators. Some are including forage plants
and is being removed from are marketing "bat-friendly such as agaves, saguaros
the U.S. endangered spe- tequila." and other cactuses in their
cies list. In southern Arizona, resi- resource management
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife dents for a decade have plans to help the species.
Service's announcement monitored bats' nighttime Limiting human access to
Tuesday made the lesser use of hummingbird feed- caves with roost sites and
long-nosed bat, which ers. It provided biologists abandoned mines in the
ranges from Mexico to with a clearer understand- U.S. also has benefited bat
southern Arizona and New ing of migration timing and populations. Recovery ef-
Mexico, the first bat ever allowed for the opportunity forts have included edu-
removed from the nation's to capture bats and affix cation aimed at changing
list of threatened and en- radio transmitters that aid- attitudes about bats and
dangered species. ed in finding roost sites. improving identification of
The decision comes a year Scientists and state wild- different species. Histori-
after first being proposed life managers describe the cally, the lesser long-nosed
and three years after Mex- delisting as a conservation bat was a victim of cam-
ico delisted the animal, success that resulted from paigns to control vampire
which depends on the decades of work. bats over rabies concerns
nectar of agaves, cactuses This 2013 file photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife shows "The story of the lesser long- and their effects on live-
nectar-feeding lesser long-nosed bats attracted to a humming-
and other flowering plants. bird feeder during a citizen science bat migration monitoring nosed bat shows that con- stock. In reviewing the spe-
It has taken 30 years of project in southern Arizona. servation and science can cies, biologists considered
conservation efforts by bi- Associated Press work together to provide the potential effects that
ologists and volunteers in species the chance to re- climate change may have
both countries as well as te- lesser long-nosed bats in 14 With the population trend- cover and persist," Winifred on the "nectar trail" that the
quila producers and agave known roosts throughout ing upward, regional of- Frick, chief scientist at Bat bats follow as they migrate.
growers in Mexico to re- the region. Now, there are ficials with the Fish and Conservation International, They say the bat is flex-
build a healthy population. about 200,000 of the nec- Wildlife Service say the sci- said in a statement. ible and adaptive enough
There were once thought tar-feeding animals and ence shows threats to the To ensure the bats con- to remain viable under
to be fewer than 1,000 dozens of roost sites. bat have been eliminated tinue to thrive, the Fish and changing conditions.q
Prague zookeepers use puppet to raise endangered magpie

By KAREL JANICEK said the puppet is needed sponds to certain signals,
Associated Press to make sure the bird will such as a red beak, black
PRAGUE (AP) — Zookeep- be capable of breeding, patches around the eyes
ers in Prague have turned which it won't be if it gets and a bright green back-
into puppeteers in an ef- used to people. ground.
fort to save the critically "It is a critically endangered The rare Javan green mag-
endangered Javan green taxon, every individual is pie and other birds are
magpie. important," Vaidl said. "This popular as status-symbol
Zoo officials saved one pre- way we can eliminate pets in the magpie's native
cious egg after the par- the possibility that the bird Indonesian island of Java
ents threw a second egg would not be able to breed and elsewhere in Asia.
out of their nest. The mag- ... it will grow into a healthy The green magpies are one
pie chick that hatched a individual that is able to re- the most endangered birds
month ago is being kept in produce." on Earth. It's estimated only
a box and is being fed us- Vaidl said the puppet about 50 of them are living
A keeper using a glove puppet imitating a parent feeds baby
critically endangered Javan green magpie at the zoo in Prague, ing a puppet that imitates doesn't have to be a per- in the wild while another 50
Czech Republic, Tuesday, April 17, 2018. a parent bird. fect imitation of an adult are in captivity in few zoos.
Associated Press Bird keeper Antonin Vaidl bird because the baby re- In Europe, about 30 of them
are in Britain and Prague.
A zoo in the British city of
Chester brought six pairs of
them from Asia in 2015, giv-
ing one pair to Prague and
another to a zoo in Jersey
as part of a coordinated
effort to save the species.
"To save it from extinction ...
that's the reason we have
been doing this," Vaidl
said.q