Nectar-loving Ethiopian wolves stands out as the first carnivore pollinators

Ethiopian wolves feed on the candy nectar of a neighborhood flower, choosing up pollen on their snouts as they accomplish that – which can make them the primary carnivores found to behave as pollinators.

The Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) is the rarest wild canid species on the planet and Africa’s most threatened carnivore. Endemic to the Ethiopian Highlands, fewer than 500 people survive.

Sandra Lai on the College of Oxford and her colleagues noticed wild Ethiopian wolves lapping up the nectar of Ethiopian purple sizzling poker (Kniphofia foliosa) flowers. Native folks within the mountains have historically used the nectar as a sweetener for espresso and on flat bread.

The wolves are considered the primary giant carnivore species ever to be recorded frequently feeding on nectar.

“For 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,” says Lai.

The sturdy, nectar-rich flower heads of the poker plant make this behaviour potential, she says. “To my knowledge, no other large carnivorous predator exhibits nectar-feeding, though some omnivorous bears may opportunistically forage for nectar, albeit rarely and poorly documented.”

A number of the wolves had been seen visiting as many as 30 blooms in a single journey. As they lick the nectar, the wolves’ muzzles get coated in pollen, which they might probably be transferring from flower to flower as they feed.

“The 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,” says Lai. “It’s very exciting.”

Lai and her colleagues on the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme now hope to dig deeper into the behaviour and its ramifications. “Trying to confirm actual pollination by the wolves would be ideal, but that would be quite challenging,” she says. “I’m also very interested in the social learning aspect of the behaviour. We’ve seen this year adults bringing their juveniles to the flower fields, which could indicate cultural transmission.”