ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
When we think of pollinators, we tend to think of the birds and the bees. Well, it turns out mammals have joined the party as well. Here's science reporter Ari Daniel.
ARI DANIEL: Sandra Lai wants more people to know about the Ethiopian wolf. It's a reddish-brown solitary hunter only found in the highlands of Ethiopia.
SANDRA LAI: They are the most endangered carnivore actually in Africa - less than 500 individuals remain.
DANIEL: Lai is senior scientist at the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Program. She'll study anything related to the animal, which is why her interest was piqued when she heard anecdotal reports that the wolves occasionally consume the nectar of a plant called the red-hot poker.
LAI: You can see children drinking the nectar. I tasted it. It's very sweet.
DANIEL: Every summer and fall in parts of Ethiopia, the plant goes into bloom and sets the high grasslands ablaze with its clusters of tubular flowers.
LAI: It is, to me, sunset-colored because it goes from yellow to red. You know, I think it's very, very beautiful.
DANIEL: Lai was curious. She wanted to see if the rumors about the wolves slurping up nectar from these flowers were true. Did they go from flower to flower like - in her words - a little busy bee? Her team decided to follow the wolves.
LAI: You really have to go where you have large flower field. You wait for a long time. If you're lucky, a wolf will come.
DANIEL: Lai's colleague was lucky. Over several days, he spotted and photographed half a dozen wolves, and sure enough, they were feeding on the nectar.
LAI: One striking thing was that they could spend a long time, like an hour and a half foraging on flowers and sometimes visiting up to 20, 30 flowers.
DANIEL: And the photographs leave no doubt the wolves love the nectar. In one, a russet animal looks blissed out. Its eyes are closed as it cranes its head back to lap up the sweet stuff. In another, a wolf looks directly at the camera, its muzzle dusted in pollen.
LAI: You see it's completely yellow.
DANIEL: Suggesting the wolf might be transferring pollen from one plant to the next as it feeds. This large carnivore, Lai says, could also be a pollinator.
LAI: We still would need to confirm, but to have a wolf pollinating flowers is a new thing. I don't think it was ever reported before.
DANIEL: The findings are published in the journal Ecology.
SANDY-LYNN STEENHUISEN: It is really exciting, and especially for a carnivore, to be using these plants as a sugary snack.
DANIEL: Sandy-Lynn Steenhuisen is a pollination ecologist at the University of the Free State in South Africa. She wasn't involved in the research. She says the Ethiopian wolves appear to have joined the ranks of a growing list of mammals likely involved in pollination - bats, of course, but also mice, mongooses, honey possums, giraffes, and more. In other words, the ecosystem's far more intricate than we once suspected.
STEENHUISEN: There's relationships between plants and animals we didn't even know about or dream about.
DANIEL: The researchers in Ethiopia hope the findings will help make the case to prevent further habitat loss and celebrate this wolf in a new way. Sandra Lai.
LAI: The fact that it's found only in one place in Africa makes it quite compelling species to preserve, protect.
DANIEL: And to just observe and admire.
For NPR News, I'm Ari Daniel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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