Echo finds shelter from the intense desert sun by roosting inside a saguaro (sah-WAH-roe) cactus.

The sun has just gone down and Echo is awakened by another bat feeding on the flowers of the saguaro cactus.

This other bat is a Lesser-long Nosed Bat. These bats eat pollen from cactus flowers. Unlike Echo, this bat does not like to eat bugs.

Follow Echo and his new friend to see how the saguaro cactus helps the animals in the desert.

Echo follows this new friend who is flying from flower to flower. The lesser long-nosed bat traveled up from Mexico to feed on the pollen of the Saguaro.

When the bat sticks his nose into the flower, his fur gets covered with pollen. Then he goes to another flower and the pollen mixes. When this happens, the flowers produce fruit. The bats help the saguaro cactus produce fruit.

Without saguaros, the lesser long-nosed bats would have no food to eat. Without bats, the saguaros would not produce fruit. Without the fruit, there would be no food for many animals and there would be no seeds to make new saguaros.

It is very important that we identify and preserve all parts of a habitat. Preserving habitats starts with identifying and counting the animals in a habitat.

What other types of animals
live in the Sonoran Desert.

(link to NatureMapping activity)

All bat photos courtesy of BCI
Bat Conservation International
www.batcon.org