The strange Ethiopian nectar-eating wolf: A predator that may also act as a pollinator
Ethiopian wolves love to roam the flower fields of the Bale Mountains in the south of this African country. Some of them can do so for up to an hour and a half, excited by the bright orange spikes of a plant typical of that area. Attracted by its sweet nectar, they eagerly lick the ripest flowers, while their muzzles become covered in the sticky yellow pollen that tastes like honey. For the first time this behavior, so peculiar for a large predator, has been documented thanks to a study carried out by a team of scientists led by Sandra Lai, a biologist at the University of Oxford (United Kingdom).
The Ethiopian highlands, home to this distinct species of wolf — Canis simensis — offer a tundra-like landscape: relatively desert-like, treeless, and with an essentially dry climate. There, between late May and early June 2023, researchers followed six individuals from three packs that are monitored regularly by the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Program. For four consecutive days, following in an off-road vehicle, researchers observed the foraging mammals from about 25 meters away.
Although the diet of Ethiopian wolves is mainly composed of rodents such as the African mole rat, scientists also recorded with videos and photographs their fondness for licking flowers, which may represent a rare case of interaction between plant and pollinator.
