The journal Ecology has some unusual research about wild pollinators. They’ve found that famous species like honeybees and hummingbirds who spread pollen by daintily zipping from flower to flower can count something considerably larger, hairier, and fiercer in their number. The Ethiopian wolf, which eats nectar from red-hot poker flowers, can be counted among a growing number of large, carnivorous mammals who play a key role as pollinators:
However, examples of carnivore species foraging for nectar, and putatively involved in pollination, continue to be discovered, such as the masked palm civet (Paguma larvata), the Cape genet (Genetta tigrina), and the Cape gray mongoose (Herpestes pulverulenta) (Kobayashi et al., 2019; Steenhuisen et al., 2015). Here, we report the visitation to inflorescences of the Ethiopian red hot poker (Kniphofia foliosa) by a large carnivore, the Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis), in the Bale Mountains of southern Ethiopia. Wolves were observed foraging for nectar on K. foliosa flowers, which deposited relatively large amount of pollen on their muzzles, suggesting they could contribute to pollination….
Typically, the wolf approached a stalk and licked the most mature flowers located at the bottom of the inflorescence and containing the most nectar (Figure 1a,b; Video S1). Time spent lapping nectar from an inflorescence ranged between 3 and 15 s. While four wolves visited a few inflorescences (1–5), two visited 20 and 30 inflorescences consecutively during a foray within a flower patch. After feeding on an inflorescence, pollen could clearly be seen deposited on the wolf’s muzzle (Figure 1a,c). This behavior highlights the inclusion of nectar in the diet of Ethiopian wolves, but more importantly, it may represent a rare case of potential plant–pollinator interaction involving a large carnivore. Moreover, since these observations covered several individuals from different packs, it indicates that this behavior is not incidental but rather widespread within the population….
The local dispersal of pollen by wolves among plants of a local population may help conserve the genes within that population, whereas more widespread dispersal by flying insects and birds may more effectively disperse pollen among different populations, thus serving as a mechanism for gene flow. The balance between these two vectors may partly determine changes in gene frequency within a local population. Further research will be needed to establish the net benefit to the plant of having wolves as potential pollinators relative to other visitors present in the Afroalpine.