In the Park's Permanent Collection

From time to time Tohono Chul Park will showcase pieces from the Park's Permanent Collection. The Collection houses more than 250 mostly Native American fine crafts, including pottery, baskets, weavings and carvings.

“Interdependence” artist: Kimberly Duffek
media: acrylic on board
Accession: 99.1.1
Anonymous Gift

The lesser long-nosed bat is a medium sized bat with yellow-brown to rusty brown fur. It has a small tail and small ears, and its nose has a triangular noseleaf which distinguishes it from other bat species. Bats are the only mammals that can fly. They also see very well; it is a myth that bats are blind. Bats are nocturnal, which means they only come out at night. They do not have many teeth, but what they do have are small due to the fact that they do not need to chew meat or tough materials. This bat is nectarivorious, which means that it does not eat insects, only plant nectar and fruits. For this reason, it cannot stay in the same place all year. The bat must follow the food; it migrates alongside the flowering and fruiting activity of cacti such as the agaves and saguaro.  Both cacti are night blooming columnar cacti and rely on the bat to help pollinate them. The flowers of the saguaro open at night and close by the following afternoon. They cannot pollinate their own pollen and therefore are as dependant on the bats to pollinate them as the bats are to their food source.

Long-nosed bats winter in Mexico and arrive in southern Arizona at about the time that saguaros begin to bloom, about late spring. Their migration may take up to three and a half months. The bats mate before the migration and after they have reached their destination set up roosts during pregnancy and after the babies are born. They roost mostly in hot, humid caves in large groups. The heat of the cave is beneficial to the bat during pregnancy because it helps the pups grow. They continue to stay in the cave until the fall, when the migration south occurs. Of all the species of bats in North America , only five migrate long distances, and only three are nectarivores.

The lesser long-nosed bat was listed as endangered throughout Mexico and the United States . Fortunately, there are several caves that serve as maternity roosts which are on federally protected lands in both countries. They can still thrive in those roosts and eat the dense distributions of cacti and agaves in those areas. The saguaro blossom is the state flower of Arizona , another reason to keep the bat’s environment safe. The lesser-long nosed bat is not the only animal to help pollinate the cacti, but without it our state flower might slowly begin to disappear. 

Kimberly “Kanoa” Duffek has both a BS degree in Wildlife Ecology and a BFA in Studio Art from the University of Arizona . Her acrylic paintings demonstrate her commitment to graphic animal depiction, but with a more painterly approach than most photographic-style wildlife artists. Her paintings are meant to inspire appreciation for animals and their homes. Kimberly signs her paintings “Kanoa”, her middle name, which means “the free one”.

This painting was first displayed at the Park in the show “Cactus in Context: Art Images as Scientific Inquiry”, which ran from February 3 – March 29, 1999.  

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