![\"\"](\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/21100202\/SEI_230301449.jpg\")
<\/div>An Ethiopian wolf licks nectar from the Ethiopian red hot poker flower<\/p>\n
Adrien Lesaffre<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
Ethiopian wolves feed on the sweet nectar of a local flower, picking up pollen on their snouts as they do so \u2013 which may make them the first carnivores discovered to act as pollinators.<\/p>\n
The Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis<\/em>) is the rarest wild canid species in the world and Africa\u2019s most threatened carnivore. Endemic to the Ethiopian Highlands, fewer than 500 individuals survive.<\/p>\n Sandra Lai<\/a> at the University of Oxford and her colleagues observed wild Ethiopian wolves lapping up the nectar of Ethiopian red hot poker (Kniphofia foliosa<\/em>) flowers. Local people in the mountains have traditionally\u00a0used the nectar as a sweetener for coffee and on flat bread.<\/p>\n The wolves are thought to be the first large carnivore species ever to be recorded regularly feeding on nectar.<\/p>\n \u201cFor large carnivores, such as wolves, nectar-feeding is very unusual, due to the lack of physical adaptations, such as a long tongue or specialised snout, and because most flowers are too fragile or produce too little nectar to be interesting for large animals,\u201d says Lai.<\/p>\n The sturdy, nectar-rich flower heads of the poker plant make this behaviour possible, she says. \u201cTo my knowledge, no other large carnivorous predator exhibits nectar-feeding, though some omnivorous bears may opportunistically forage for nectar, albeit rarely and poorly documented.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some of the wolves were seen visiting as many as 30 blooms in a single trip. As they lick the nectar, the wolves\u2019 muzzles get covered in pollen, which they could potentially be transferring from flower to flower as they feed.<\/p>\n Nectar feeding is very unusual among carnivores<\/p>\n Adrien Lesaffre<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe behaviour is interesting because it shows nectar-feeding and pollination by non-flying mammals might be more widespread than currently recognised, and that the ecological significance of these lesser-known pollinators might be more important than we think,\u201d says Lai. \u201cIt\u2019s very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/21100207\/SEI_230301429.jpg\")
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