Ethiopian wolves, known for their love of nectar, may become the first carnivore pollinators

Ethiopian wolves feed on the sweet nectar of local flowers and apply pollen to their noses as they do so. This could make them the first carnivores discovered to function as pollinators.

Ethiopian wolf (canis mensis) is the world's rarest wild canid and Africa's most endangered carnivore. Endemic to the Ethiopian highlands, fewer than 500 individuals remain.

sandra rye Researchers at the University of Oxford observed wild Ethiopian wolves sucking nectar from Ethiopian red hot pokers (Kniphofia foliosa) flowers. Local mountain people have traditionally used its nectar as a sweetener for coffee and flatbread.

Wolves are thought to be the first large carnivores recorded to regularly feed on nectar.

“Nectar feeding is highly unusual for large carnivores such as wolves. This is due to a lack of physical adaptations such as long tongues and specialized noses, and also because most flowers are too fragile. “It's either easy to eat, or it produces too little nectar to be interesting to large carnivores,” Rai says.

The poker plant's durable, nectar-rich flower heads make this behavior possible, she says. “To my knowledge, no other large carnivores have shown nectar-feeding behavior. However, although rare and poorly documented, some omnivorous bears do opportunistically forage for nectar.” It may happen.

Some wolves reportedly visited as many as 30 flowers at once. When wolves lick nectar from flowers, their muzzles become coated with pollen. Pollen may be transferred from flower to flower as wolves feed.

“This behavior is interesting because it suggests that nectar feeding and pollination by flightless mammals may be more widespread than currently recognized, and raises the question of the ecological importance of these little-known pollinators.” “It shows that it may be more important than we think,” Lai said. “It's very exciting.”

Mr. Rai and his colleagues Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Program In the future, we hope to dig deeper into this behavior and its effects. “It would be ideal to confirm actual pollination by wolves, but that would be very difficult,” she says. “I'm also very interested in the social learning aspect of behavior. This year I witnessed adults bringing children to flower gardens, which may indicate cultural transmission. there is.”