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this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2023
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Bats
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Bats are cool
Bats are the only true flying mammals. There are over 1,400 species of bats, and they can be found on nearly every part of the planet. Not only are they cute, they are also important...
Studying how bats use echolocation has helped scientists develop navigational aids for the blind. Without bats’ pollination, seed dispersal, and pest control we wouldn’t have bananas, avocados, mangoes, agave, or cacao… that’s right, bats bring us tequila and chocolate!
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There is no way cacao is pollinated by bats. it's flowers are minuscule and wayyyyy to delicate to be pollinated by probably even a large bee. Afaik, they are gnat pollinated or otherwise human pollinated.
I have two in my yard and there is a 0 percent chance that a bat could ever even accidentally pollinate a cacao.
Here is a link to a video I just made of a cacao flower:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFvCQ-pDkwY
I'm back: although the top ten search results say bats pollinate cacao, I can find no convincing evidence except that the "chocolate midge" is the only cacao pollinator.
But bats eat midges, is the pollen somehow making it through their tract?
Bat people where are you
I found this
Me too, but I can't find any specific information on how bats pollinate cacao or if bats are eating other organisms that feed on chocolate midges or what.
That study might be what all the BuzzFeed lists and everything are referring to, since every mention of bats and cacao maker the same vague assertion of why you should thank bats for chocolate.
While perhaps misleadingly phrased, if taken as two separate ideas ("Thank bats for chocolate", full stop, "bats pollinate 300 species of plants"), they're not necessarily saying to thank bats for chocolate because they are responsible for their pollination.
I have no background in this subject beyond what I've read in the comments here, but it seems likely that the bats apply predatory pressure on insects that would otherwise themselves prey upon the pollinating midges, or the plant itself.
In this way, the bats contribute to the production of chocolate by reducing predatory pressure on the midges which are actually carrying out the pollination process.
I was referring to this result while looking this up:
I totally agree, I replied somewhere else that I'm pretty sure all these listicles are mindlessly refrencing one other and any kernel of truth probably stems from bats eating insects that eat midges.