Mexican Long-tongued Bat

Choeronycteris mexicana

Description: 14" wingspan, body about 2 1/4" to 3 1/8" long. Gray or brown fur above, paler below. Big eyes, tiny tail. Has a long slender nose, with small arrowhead shape on tip. Has a very long tongue, which can extend 1/3 the length of its body.

Range: Found in southern California, southern Arizona and New Mexico, down through Mexico and into Nicaragua.

Habitat: Likes desert canyons, arid mountain ranges. Roosts by day in caves, mines or buildings.

Diet: Nectar and pollen, mainly from cactus and agaves, likes to eat at hummingbird feeders.

Behavior: Gets liberally dusted with pollen from flowers, important pollinator of many desert agaves and cactii. Known to visit hummingbird feeders in small groups of 6-8 bats. Bears a single young each June.