Photograph by Joel Sartore, National Geographic Photo Ark In Mexico, these bats drink nectar from agave plants, which inadvertently helps tequila producers pollinate their agave crop.
The lesser long-nosed bat is one of only a few bat species that feeds almost exclusively on nectar. That’s because these small animals’ deep, spiraled burrows provide refuge for at least 45 different species-including the yellow-spotted monitor lizard and the highly venomous king brown snake, according to his study, published in March in the Journal of Zoology. (See “ How the World Celebrates Easter in 15 Spectacular Photos.”)Īlthough the campaign has seen a number of successes, including mass production of Easter Bilby chocolates, conservationists should up the ante, says Stuart Dawson, a zoologist and research associate at Murdoch University in Western Australia and lead author of new research on bilbies.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Australian government consider the animal vulnerable to extinction.Īustralian conservation groups such as the Foundation for Rabbit-Free Australia and Save the Bilby Fund have encouraged public awareness of the species by promoting the Easter bilby as an alternative to the Easter bunny.
The greater bilby ( Macrotis lagotis), also known as the rabbit-eared bandicoot, is a desert-dwelling creature that once occupied over 80 percent of the continent.īut due to decades of decline-driven largely by habitat loss and predation by cats, foxes, and other introduced species-bilbies now only exist in a handful of remote regions in Western Australia, Queensland, and the Northern Territory. Australia’s own “Easter bunny,” a burrowing marsupial with rabbit-like ears, is even more crucial to the ecosystem than we thought.
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