Ethiopian Wolves Become First Large Carnivore Documented Feeding on Nectar

[Judi Lynn]

1. These Endangered Wolves Have a Sweet Tooth--and It Might Make Them Rare Carnivorous Pollinators

Ethiopian wolves like to lick up the flower nectar of red hot poker plants, and researchers have caught the behavior on camera

Alexa Robles-Gil
Daily Correspondent
November 27, 2024 2:07 p.m.

Most flowering plants need pollinators, relying on bees, bats, birds and more to help them produce seeds and fruits. Sometimes, in rarer cases, a small carnivore puts themself up for the job. Now, scientists say the Ethiopian wolf, the world’s rarest wild dog, might be the first known large carnivore to pollinate, as the canines lick red hot poker flowers to get their sweet fix.

In a new study published in Ecology last week, a team of researchers studying the endangered Ethiopian wolves captured the blossom-licking behavior on camera. The wolves, feeding on the flowers’ sweet nectar, might act as pollinators because of the remnants of pollen on their muzzles.

“The wolves lick the flowers like ice cream cones,” says lead author Sandra Lai, an ecologist at Oxford University in England, to the New York Times’ Elizabeth Anne Brown. She adds that watching the wolves is like a scene from a storybook.

The new images leave “no doubt” that the wolves drink nectar, as Tom Gable, a biologist at the University of Minnesota who studies wolf diets but was not involved with the study, adds to the publication.

More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-endangered-wolves-have-a-sweet-tooth-and-it-might-make-them-rare-carnivorous-pollinators-180985551/