If I told you bats and tequila have everything to do with each other, you'd probably think I was drunk when I wrote this.Tequila, and mezcal, in particular, are having a moment in the cocktail world, but the world's tequila supply is in danger. It's a complicated set of circumstances—between sustainability, agave poachers, and supply and demand—and information that becomes jumbled together at the bottom of your margarita.What is the modern drinker supposed to do? Thankfully, there's a guy named Batman who is fighting off the destruction of your tequila supply with bats. Yet the real Batman isn't a leather-loving New Yorker, but a Mexican scientist and bat conservationist named Rodrigo Medellín.As a young child in Mexico, he raised vampire bats—known for their blood-sucking tendencies—from the comfort of his own bathroom. Concerned for their well-being, Medellín fed all ten of the hungry mammals his own blood.Years later, Medellín rose to become one of the leading bat conservationists in the world. In the early 90s, bat populations in Mexico dramatically crashed, causing critical species' like the lesser long-nosed bat—a primary agave pollinator—to be placed on the endangered species list. Thus, the impending batpocalypse meant trouble for tequila, too. The blue agave—the plant from which your sacred bottle of tequila is made—depends on the lesser long-nosed bat for pollination.To keep up with supply and demand, tequila-makers have been cutting the furry mammals out of the equation, using clone agaves (which grow at the base of the mother blue agave plant) to grow more plants instead of allowing the succulents to flower and attract pollinators. After pulling this move for too many generations, the agaves are getting weaker and susceptible to disease.The buzzkill of tequila's complicated situation is enough to make one consider alternative spirits, but Batman is here for blue agave's salvation. Thankfully, I had the chance to sit down with the scientist and conservationist to discuss why the bat is an integral part of the international agriculture system and how both he and the flying mammal are helping save the blue agave species for your benefit.Pour yourself a shot of that blue agave-based truth-serum, download the podcast, and then tell the rest of the Internet and your neighborhood bar to subscribe. And if you have yet to do so, subscribe toMUNCHIES: The Podcast on iTunes and Soundcloud. Our next episode drops in two weeks, so send your insatiable self over to MUNCHIES and gorge on our content to tide you over.
Advertisement