Book 16, Question 92
How Do Bats Help Desert Plants?
Bats help desert plants by carrying pollen from flower to flower at night! The bats drink sweet nectar, and pollen from the flowers dusts their fur. That helps the plants make fruit and seeds.
More fun facts
- Nectar-feeding bats are drawn by the scent of night-blooming desert flowers, like saguaro and organ pipe cactus flowers.
- They lap up nectar with long tongues that have brush-like tips.
- They leave the flowers with their heads covered in pollen, which they carry to the next flower.
- Later in the season, the bats eat sweet cactus fruit.
- The seeds pass through the bats unharmed, so the bats help spread new cactus plants.
Sources: National Park Service, National Park Service, National Park Service
Questions kids ask
How do bats plant new cacti?
Bats eat sweet cactus fruit, and the seeds pass through them unharmed, so new cactus plants can grow.