♪♪
ATTENBOROUGH: Mexico is a land
of astonishing natural riches.
It's home to a great variety
of life.
And it's also home to tequila.
Made from the mighty
agave plant,
this beverage has a secret.
Without a special bat,
there would be no tequila.
And this bat has been
put in terrible danger.
But it has a defender...
bat biologist Rodrigo Medellin.
MEDELLIN: There's little bats,
there's big bats,
there's short-snouted,
long-snouted,
big eyes, little eyes,
long ears, short ears,
every type of bat.
ATTENBOROUGH:
He has devoted 20 years
to saving Mexico's tequila bats.
Every year they make
an incredible journey
from the far south of Mexico
to the U.S. border.
This year Rodrigo is going
to join them
to find out if his work
has been successful
and if the bats and tequila
have been saved.
MEDELLIN: In Mexico and in other
places, because of what I do,
they call me the "Bat Man."
So be it.
Iam
the Bat Man.
♪♪
♪♪
{\an7}ATTENBOROUGH: Rodrigo Medellin
was not like other children.
While his friends kept
gerbils and hamsters,
Rodrigo's pets
were vampire bats.
MEDELLIN:
I remember when I was a kid
I would keep vampire bats
in the bathroom of my home,
feeding them blood from cows
or for me sometimes,
keeping blood in the fridge
so that I could feed
the bats every night.
That was not easy to withstand,
and still my parents
let me do that.
ATTENBOROUGH:
It was the beginning of
a lifetime's obsession.
But there was one particular bat
that seized his imagination,
a bat important not only
to Rodrigo,
but to the world.
MEDELLIN:
My first lesser long-nosed bat
came into my hands
when I was 15.
We knew nothing about it.
Then we found out that
they were really endangered.
We were looking at roosts
that were known to have
many thousands
of lesser long-nosed bats,
and when we visited them,
they only had
a few hundreds or none.
That immediately told us
that they were in trouble.
So this is one
of my best friends.
This is a lesser long-nosed bat.
This is an amazing animal
that migrates
for thousands of kilometers.
It's a small but powerful flier.
Look at this amazing wing.
This is what made bats
so successful
in the night skies...
long-fingered hand here
and a very long arm here.
{\an7}You can see both vein down here
and a series of
muscle stretches here.
{\an7}It's very much alive,
{\an7}so that they can control
making it broader or narrower.
{\an7}That makes them masters
of the air.
It's getting ready to start
a really exciting time,
a really demanding time,
a really dangerous time, too,
which is migration.
ATTENBOROUGH: The migration
of this tiny endangered bat
is one of the greatest
in the animal world.
This epic journey
happens at night,
so it's taken Rodrigo 20 years
to work out their route.
Over his life, he has discovered
many of the roosts they use
on their 2,000-kilometer journey
and protected them, one by one.
The entire migration
is powered by nectar.
MEDELLIN: I'm gonna give it
a bit of sugar water here.
This incredible tongue that they
have is the perfect instrument
for them to reach into
deep flowers,
like agave flowers.
{\an7}It's incredible that an animal
this big
{\an7}can do what these guys do.
I love them because of that.
ATTENBOROUGH: Rodrigo is about
to immerse himself
in the bats' world.
By tracking their entire
migration,
he wants to see if he's achieved
what many thought impossible...
saving the tequila bats
from extinction.
The stakes are high.
Their fate is tied to Mexico's
most famous export.
MEDELLIN: As a Mexican,
I'm proud of my country.
And part of the Mexican spirit
is a beverage
that is called tequila.
[ Metal scraping ]
ATTENBOROUGH: These spiky plants
are the source of tequila.
MEDELLIN: Tequila
is a very important part
of the Mexican economy,
and it is owed to bats.
Bats provide pollination
for the tequila plant,
the agave plant.
♪♪
ATTENBOROUGH:
Mexico relies on tequila.
Over a quarter of a billion
liters were exported last year.
Every plant is harvested
by hand,
by men called jimadores...
...in a trade passed down
from father to son.
The agaves are planted
where they've always grown...
in the flight path of the bats.
♪♪
♪♪
MEDELLIN: What agaves do is
they grow and grow and grow,
and then when the time comes,
they send this amazing sh**t,
huge flowering stalk,
up into the sky.
They invest all of their energy
that they have accumulated
over 15 years
into one single
reproductive event
that basically costs them
their lives.
The link that they formed has
been here for millions of years.
Agaves rely on the bats
to move their pollen.
Bats rely on agaves
so that they can survive.
We could not have
this
amazing
product
if it wasn't for the bats.
And I can't help
but think of the bats
and thank the bats for the
incredible service they give us.
♪♪
ATTENBOROUGH: Without the bats,
there would be no tequila.
♪♪
But 20 years ago,
their populations had crashed.
Hundreds of thousands of bats
had died,
and the future of tequila
was suddenly in danger.
Rodrigo had to take action.
The tequila bats were being
k*lled by people
because of the reputation
the vampires had given them.
MEDELLIN: In the 19th century,
there was this author
who wrote a book
entitled "Dracula."
That really touched
the imagination of people
around the world,
and that has turned bats
into monsters, unfortunately.
♪♪
ATTENBOROUGH:
Bats were so hated in Mexico
because of their association
with evil
that people would hunt them down
and k*ll them,
burning them in their caves.
Their populations crashed.
MEDELLIN: To this day,
people are afraid,
saying that they are filthy
and that they are
everything bad in the world.
That is really
not the case at all.
ATTENBOROUGH:
Bats are actually very clean.
The same can't be said
for the caves they live in.
Rodrigo's mission to save
his tequila bats
has taken him into their world.
MEDELLIN:
It's bat guano all over.
Under that layer of bat feces
is a whole layer
of living insects...
beetles, beetle larvae,
fly larvae, moth larvae...
they are just moving everything,
everything, everything.
You look,
and everything is moving.
ATTENBOROUGH: This is one of the
many caves Rodrigo has protected
from those who could
destroy the bats inside.
But the start of this
great migration
isn't deep underground
where you'd expect.
Our story begins
in the Pacific Ocean
at the uninhabited
islands of Chamela.
[ Wind whistling ]
[ Boat engine running ]
Rodrigo has traveled here
from his home in Mexico City.
He's heard reports that the bats
have been gathering here,
but he's never been
to this cave before.
[ Insects scuttling ]
To his horror,
it's full of c*ck.
He
hates
c*ck.
MEDELLIN: Whoa!
So many c*ck.
And I almost fell on them!
Eeh, ugh, oh!
ATTENBOROUGH: But he's
astonished by what he finds.
MEDELLIN:
This is incredible.
So many lesser long-nosed bats,
all around me.
It's so good to see that their
numbers are stable and big.
ATTENBOROUGH: The tequila bats
have come together
from all across Mexico
with one thing on their minds...
♪♪
...mating.
♪♪
♪♪
MEDELLIN:
They're mating here right now,
and this is
a very well-protected cave.
The ocean takes care of that.
ATTENBOROUGH: While Lucas the
boatman tucks into some oysters,
Rodrigo pushes deeper
into the cave
and the source of the bats'
aphrodisiac.
MEDELLIN: Oh, yes.
Big male, which is what
we expected in this cave.
It's full of males
getting ready to reproduce.
{\an7}Such well-tempered bat,
{\an7}with big testicles
ready for action,
{\an7}loaded with sperm,
and ready for the females
{\an7}that are gathering here
in this cave,
{\an7}and this should have
a patch on its back.
{\an7}Oh, yeah, the patch is there.
Very oily.
I can feel it
with my finger here.
{\an7}That patch is put there
by the males.
They put feces
and urine and saliva there,
{\an7}and that is very attractive
to the females.
Females are gonna come
and take a whiff of that
and just fall in love
with this guy.
This boy is ready to mate,
and it's time to let him go
so that he can do his deed.
There you go, my friend.
♪♪
ATTENBOROUGH:
On the roof of this cave,
an extraordinary mass seduction
is taking place.
Once the females find a male
whose sex potion entrances them,
they'll choose him
as their mate,
and in three months,
a single baby bat will be born.
It may be alluring
for the females,
but for Rodrigo,
the smell is overpowering.
MEDELLIN:
This is a
really
stinky cave,
and there are lots
and lots of bats here,
lots of them everywhere!
This is certainly... ooh!
This is certainly a challenging
cave to be in, to be sure.
ATTENBOROUGH:
Eventually the smell and
c*ck are too much,
even for the Bat Man.
The bats will stay
on this island for weeks,
mating and building
their strength
before they continue on the next
stage in their migration.
It will be perhaps
And each evening
is a changing of the guard...
♪♪
♪♪
...as the birds of Mexico
head home to roost.
♪♪
All across
this enormous country,
bats are about
to reclaim the night.
Nowhere is this more spectacular
than the Bat Volcano
of Calakmul.
Predators are gathering.
It's called the Bat Volcano
because every night it erupts.
[ Bats squeaking ]
♪♪
♪♪
This is one of the greatest
bat colonies on Earth.
Perhaps as many
as 3 million bats live here.
To avoid being eaten,
they form a living tornado
In this whirling mass,
it's almost impossible
for their predators
to choose a target.
But the bats must head
to their feeding grounds,
and they start to peel off
across the forest.
♪♪
Now the hunters can strike.
♪♪
One bat narrowly escapes.
Others aren't so lucky.
Bat falcons and brown jays also
swoop in to make their kills.
♪♪
But nothing can dent the swarm.
♪♪
They're heading for the
cornfields across the forest.
There, they will devour
...like this hatching
armyworm moth.
Each moth can produce
hundreds of hungry caterpillars.
And, unprotected,
the crops would be doomed.
[ Dogs barking ]
Most Mexicans don't realize
they owe not only their tequila,
but also their corn, to bats.
MEDELLIN: Mmm.
Thanks to bats,
we're eating this.
ATTENBOROUGH: Rodrigo's main
weapon to defend the bats
is education.
His teams work in
over 30 states across Mexico,
and he never misses a chance
for a bit of bat PR.
{\an7}[ Both speaking Spanish ]
MEDELLIN:
Muchas gracias. Bueno.
♪♪
You can see it in the eyes of
people when you talk to them
and it makes sense.
All of a sudden,
everything makes sense.
Their frame of mind changes,
and they're bat friends
from then on
and they propagate the message.
They talk to people
in the house.
They talk to people
in the office, in school, etc.
And little by little,
the situation goes snowballing
and really, really changes
the panorama for the bats.
I can turn them around
in 10 minutes, in 15 minutes.
I give them the facts.
I give them the evidence.
I give them the images.
ATTENBOROUGH: Over 20 years,
Rodrigo and his team
have converted the people
whose land the bats rely on
from potential destroyers
to bat defenders.
Now, three weeks later,
the female bats are pregnant,
and their migration is starting.
Before they spread out
across Mexico,
{\an7}Rodrigo has a rare chance
to count them.
MEDELLIN:
This is an amazing thing.
{\an7}I can't see anything.
So this thermal camera can
tell me what's going on there.
Using this technology,
we can estimate, how many bats
do we have in this cave?
I'm guessing about 40,000
lesser long-nosed bats.
The spectacle is incredible.
ATTENBOROUGH: The tequila bats
start moving north,
crossing cities,
and people oblivious
to their journey above.
By day,
Rodrigo is hot on their tails.
The bats travel over
an ever-changing Mexico.
And always they pass over us.
The path the bats and Rodrigo
must now take
lies between the mountains
of the Sierra Madre and the sea.
This fertile land is called
the nectar corridor...
...because here, every year,
billions of flowers
open at night.
The bats must feed on these
constantly
to fuel their journey,
otherwise they'll die.
And they have to time it
perfectly.
MEDELLIN:
Over millions of years,
the bats have learned
by trial and death
to track where the nectar
is going to show up next.
Bats are early or bats are late,
plants die and bats die.
ATTENBOROUGH:
What the bats miss
is hoovered up quickly
in the daytime
in a fiesta of hummingbirds.
But both hummingbird and bat
face an uncertain future.
MEDELLIN: Humans are affecting
every last corner of the world
in many different ways,
some ways that
we still don't understand.
Biological diversity is
under threat from many angles,
and not all of them
are manageable
or reversible by humans.
ATTENBOROUGH:
Mexico is developing fast.
The land the bats rely on
is being swallowed,
and nature is being destroyed.
But because of Rodrigo,
at least some is safe.
30 years ago, he was asked
to assist the new government
to devise laws
to save the wildlife of Mexico.
Land-owners, the Mexican people,
worked as partners to create
a vast network
of linked nature reserves,
made from their private and
the government's public land.
MEDELLIN: I've worked with
small groups,
big groups, individuals,
in the government halls,
everywhere.
All we need is a little bit
of information,
and people are gonna change
about bats.
ATTENBOROUGH:
Now over a quarter of Mexico
is protected land.
Where other countries have lost
much of their wildlife,
Mexico is a rare success story.
But nature in Mexico
is still threatened,
and Rodrigo is still
pushing to save more.
This cave is
one of the safe ones,
protected by local families
who share the land.
Down here, Rodrigo and the bats
feel safe.
MEDELLIN: The peacefulness
in here is really overwhelming.
It's really nice.
The only sound around you
are the bats flying around you.
This here is a bed of bat guano.
I could just lie down here
and take a nap,
and it would be a very nice nap.
I just absolutely love it.
ATTENBOROUGH: But even in
their deepest sanctuaries,
where their bodies lie
undisturbed by any scavenger,
they're never quite secure,
for this cave is called
"the cave of the serpents."
{\an7}MEDELLIN: Somehow, a group
of snakes have learned
{\an7}that they can catch
their food here.
This is something
I have never seen before.
{\an7}These are rat snakes,
but they're getting used to
eating bats inside the cave
as they come out.
ATTENBOROUGH:
And as darkness falls outside,
the bats prepare to leave.
From much deeper underground,
they start to throng the narrow
passages towards the surface,
and the snakes start to emerge.
♪♪
MEDELLIN: Look at that!
This snake is
deep
into the cave
where the bats are supposed
to be completely safe
from predators.
Not so.
[Snaps fingers] Dinner.
ATTENBOROUGH: The bat dwarfs
the snake's head.
To swallow it, the snake
must dislocate its jaw.
MEDELLIN: This is one more
danger that bats face
along their migration,
and still, they're there
and surviving.
♪♪
[ Thunder crashes ]
ATTENBOROUGH: And just when
the bat populations look safe,
disaster strikes.
[ Thunder crashes ]
Within weeks of each other,
not one but two hurricanes
hit Mexico
and batter
the entire Pacific coast.
This is a threat beyond
even Rodrigo's control.
He loses the tequila bats.
Across the country,
he sends his students
to everywhere the bats
have ever been found.
For three weeks,
they search day and night.
This has never happened before.
♪♪
♪♪
MEDELLIN: Okay, so that bats
are not here.
Well, I don't know.
♪♪
♪♪
ATTENBOROUGH: If many of
the bats have been k*lled,
the future for their species
is bleak.
♪♪
♪♪
MEDELLIN: The way I feel right
now, the trail is getting cold.
I'm not sure if we're
gonna find them.
Our only hope is to keep poking
and looking in every little
piece of bat habitat
that we know of
to see if they are there.
ATTENBOROUGH:
It's a tense time for Rodrigo.
He puts out rewards
for any leads.
At last, one of his students
thinks they've seen
a tequila bat
in a cave called Las Vegas.
♪♪
They block the exits,
and he heads in alone.
♪♪
♪♪
Finally, he emerges...
triumphant.
MEDELLIN: I found them.
It took
weeks
of searching everywhere.
It took two hurricanes
to move the bats around
so we could not track them,
but they're here.
I got like, uh, maybe like 10,
so the population is healthy.
Another dot in the migration
of this species.
I'm so relieved.
I found them.
[ Sighs ]
Oh, wow.
[ Water splashing ]
Oh, look at this.
This is a pregnant female.
Her wings are in great shape.
{\an7}Wow. I can feel the head
right here
{\an7}and the rump over here.
{\an7}This is the baby right here.
{\an7}The baby is really big.
{\an7}I can't imagine the energy
that this bat has spent
{\an7}just flying around
with a fetus growing inside her.
Thank you, Mom.
You're ready to go.
[ All speaking Spanish ]
ATTENBOROUGH: With proof that
there are bats here in numbers,
he can get legal protection
for the cave.
The tequila bats have another
vital place of permanent safety.
For Rodrigo, it's time
to visit some old friends.
♪♪
There are over 1,200 species
of bats in the world.
♪♪
Three are vampires.
♪♪
And two of these species
live in this cave.
♪♪
MEDELLIN: I got you!
I thought this was
a common vampire bat,
but it's a hairy-legged
vampire bat.
They're not common at all.
This hairy-legged vampire bat
feeds almost entirely
on mammal blood
in this area here.
They have a really soft side,
which is that they share blood.
No vampire bat can afford to go
one night without feeding.
We found out that they come back
from their foraging
and regurgitate
a little bit of the blood
for the guys
that didn't feed that night.
So, basically, they have
a blood cooperative going
in every vampire bat colony.
They are nice.
I mean, look at them.
Really nice.
[ Insects chirping ]
ATTENBOROUGH: This might look
like the stuff of nightmares,
but the cow is oblivious
to the vampires
feeding on its back and sides.
Vampire teeth are so sharp that
the cow doesn't feel their bite,
and an anti-coagulant in their
saliva keeps the blood flowing.
They don't suck,
but lick up the flowing juices.
Often they will return to feed
on the same animal
night after night.
Regrettably,
Rodrigo can't stay for dinner.
He's back on the trail
of the tequila bats.
He heads north to the end
of the nectar corridor
and the edge
of the Pinacate desert.
MEDELLIN: The Pinacate desert
is one of the great deserts
of North America.
It is part of the Sonoran Desert
and, as such, is part of the
driest desert in this continent.
It's one of the most
challenging places on Earth
to make a living
as a human being
or survive as a species.
This place has been a desert
for at least 100,000 years.
ATTENBOROUGH: The bats are
aiming for a cave
deep in the heart
of this desert,
in the Badlands
just south of the U.S. border.
♪♪
There are no agaves to feed off
en route.
Instead, the tequila bats,
nearing the end of their
three-month pregnancy,
must seek the flowers
of the giant columnar cactuses.
MEDELLIN: These flowers
accommodate almost half
the bat's body into them.
It means millions of years
of evolution
in which the flowers have become
perfect receptacles
for the bat's head
and snout and tongue.
And a very long tongue
of the bats
goes into those flowers
and lick the nectar out,
and they come out
completely covered with pollen.
They move out, they go to
another columnar cactus,
and there's pollination.
ATTENBOROUGH:
Because he knows the bats
will come to the cactus flowers,
Rodrigo has a chance
to solve a puzzle
that's long been on his mind.
How far can they fly
in one night?
♪♪
MEDELLIN: It is a female,
very lively,
in very, very good health.
We're going to mark it
with a blue powder.
ATTENBOROUGH: Rodrigo coats
the bats he catches
in harmless UV dust,
which they will lick off
and digest.
MEDELLIN:
We keep the head out
so that the powder
does not affect its senses.
That should be enough.
ATTENBOROUGH: The bats will now
head on to their roost,
where, within a day,
the glowing dust they've licked
will pass through their system.
And if Rodrigo can find
a glowing bat dropping there,
he can prove
how far they've flown,
at least in theory.
No one has tried this before.
[ Insects chirping ]
♪♪
At daybreak, 50 kilometers
from the cactuses,
Rodrigo finally arrives
at the most important cave,
the end point
of their long journey...
The birth cave
of the tequila bats.
MEDELLIN: This cave is
the largest colony
that this bat has
anywhere in the world.
ATTENBOROUGH:
It's Rodrigo's great hope
that enough bats
have made it here
to sustain their population.
The future of the species
depends on what will take place
in this ancient volcano.
MEDELLIN: We cannot get in
the cave during the day.
We would create chaos
in the worrying females
that are taking care
of their babies.
♪♪
♪♪
ATTENBOROUGH: Rodrigo must by
wait by the cave mouth.
Night falls.
♪♪
And then...
...at first a trickle,
then more emerge.
At least some of the bats
have made it.
It's a tremendous relief
for Rodrigo.
♪♪
Now the mothers have left
the cave to find food,
it's safe for Rodrigo
to go inside.
♪♪
They turn on their UV torches
and carefully comb the cave.
[ Instruments clanging ]
MEDELLIN: Ah!
Blue poop.
This is proof that these bats
are really long-distance fliers
doing 50-kilometer
one-way trips,
{\an7}and then coming back
every night.
{\an7}This is a really good find,
confirmation.
ATTENBOROUGH:
To fly to the cactus
where Rodrigo dusted it and back
is a 100-kilometer round trip.
No one suspected the bats
could fly so far.
MEDELLIN:
This is a spotted skunk,
and it's coming out now,
I have never seen it before.
Look at the incredible pattern
and the huge feathered plume
advertising that it is
about to spray us.
But it chooses to go off
into the dark.
ATTENBOROUGH:
Rodrigo moves far deeper
into the maze of the volcano
than he's ever been before.
MEDELLIN: Phew!
We can check on
the reproductive success
by gauging how many babies
are hanging
from the roof of the cave.
♪♪
ATTENBOROUGH: At last,
far below the desert surface,
the bats' secret...
Their nursery.
MEDELLIN:
This is a group of babies,
and there's a mix in their ages.
Most of them are about
a week old,
and a very few one-day-old
and two-day-old babies.
It's always good to see them.
ATTENBOROUGH: These are
the first babies to be born
of what will hopefully be
hundreds of thousands.
The future of the entire species
hangs in this cave.
MEDELLIN:
They synchronize their births
so that everything happens
in the space of two weeks,
three weeks, that's it.
You have twice that many bats
in there.
This is... this is huge.
Oh, yeah, this is a good spot
for the camera.
ATTENBOROUGH: Rodrigo sets up
remote cameras.
He can't stay
when the mothers return,
so he's never seen
what happens here during the day
when they're reunited
with their pups.
MEDELLIN:
This is a very young baby,
one day old, two day old.
This is not a good place for
the mother to leave this baby.
ATTENBOROUGH:
The pup is so young,
its umbilical cord
is still attached.
It's yet to grow the fur and fat
that will keep it warm.
MEDELLIN:
These babies are tiny.
At this age, they cannot keep
their temperature up.
They have to be surrounded
by dozens or hundreds
of other babies
so that they keep the heat
in place
in what we call nurseries.
But this poor guy
is here by himself.
If his mother doesn't come soon,
his temperature is gonna drop
and he's gonna be in trouble.
Death is always part
of the natural history
of these species,
but I always worry about
the fate of these little guys.
ATTENBOROUGH: Soon, the mothers
will start to return
from across
the great desert wastes.
It's time for Rodrigo to leave.
♪♪
In the hours before dawn,
the bats flood
into the ancient volcano
like an eruption in reverse.
♪♪
As the day passes
on the desert surface,
the cameras record the bats'
hidden lives deep underground.
At nightfall, once the females
have left again,
they can retrieve the footage.
It's a long night watching
through the many hours recorded.
MEDELLIN:
This is a... this has to be
at around 7:00 or 8:00 p.m.
Nobody has seen a nursery
in the process of building up
the numbers of babies
that are left behind
by the mothers.
MARINA:
She's pregnant, yeah?
MEDELLIN: No. This one?
MARINA: No, this one.
ATTENBOROUGH: And then...
MEDELLIN:
Oh, look at this!
MARINA:
She's having a baby!
MEDELLIN: Having a...
She's having a baby!
MARINA: [ Squeals ]
MEDELLIN:
iNo es possible!
The baby's coming out!
[ Both speaking Spanish ]
This is incredible.
She's licking, scratching,
and again.
MARINA: Wow.
ATTENBOROUGH:
The camera has captured
something never seen before.
MEDELLIN:
Look at the tiny forearm.
MARINA: This is the face?
MEDELLIN: Yes.
ATTENBOROUGH: First its head,
then its wing emerges.
Then suddenly the baby is out
and clinging to its mother.
MEDELLIN: The wings
are protecting the baby
so nobody can come close
to the baby at all.
ATTENBOROUGH: We catch a glimpse
of the newborn pup's face
as its mother cleans it
in her fingertips.
MEDELLIN:
Look at that! Ooh!
Baby was slipping away
from the mother.
She... the baby must be
very, very slippery,
and it's slipping down away
from the control of the mother,
so she catches it with the wing.
ATTENBOROUGH: The mother quickly
positions the baby on her teat
for its first feed of her milk.
MEDELLIN: That is amazing.
There's a few mothers.
There's one, two, three, four.
But this is all babies.
ATTENBOROUGH:
Over the next few days,
the colony swells with thousands
upon thousands of new babies.
MEDELLIN:
This is the flagship colony
that is helping me understand
what is the actual conservation
status of that species.
If we multiply that one birth
hundreds of thousands of times,
tells me that the species
has recovered.
ATTENBOROUGH: Rodrigo could
never have dreamed 20 years ago
that he'd be seeing
such a recovery.
His tequila bats
have come home to roost.
MEDELLIN: Our work as
conservation professionals
is not to put as many species
as we can
in the endangered species lists.
Our work is to work
as hard as we can
for long as it's needed...
as long as it's needed
only
...
to recover that species.
ATTENBOROUGH:
Finally, Rodrigo is ready
to make an extraordinary
announcement.
MEDELLIN: There's places where
I have to be in big meetings.
You have to address the world.
Before that happens,
I picture myself in a cave,
in the darkness, in the quiet,
in the peace of a cave.
Everything is great then.
ATTENBOROUGH: At the Ministry of
the Environment in Mexico City,
journalists and ministers
pack the room
to hear what he has to say.
[ Applause ]
MEDELLIN:
[ Speaking Spanish ]
[ Applause ]
ATTENBOROUGH: Thanks to the work
of Rodrigo, his team,
and hundreds of others
across this country,
the lesser long-nosed bat
is the first species in Mexico
to be officially saved
from extinction,
and it will be removed from
the endangered species list.
MEDELLIN:
This is a clear indication
that our work is actually having
a good impact in the world.
ATTENBOROUGH: His method
of combining research,
law, and community education
has meant every single
bat colony
has either stabilized
or increased.
His techniques are now being
applied with further success
to save endangered species
of all kinds
across Latin America
and the world.
Rodrigo really is the Bat Man.
MEDELLIN: This is a great day
for the lesser long-nosed bat.
There's a lot of work
to be done,
but first,
it's time to celebrate.
♪♪
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To learn more about what
you've seen on this
"Nature" program,
visit
pbs.org.
♪♪
♪♪
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