Nectar-loving Ethiopian wolves may be the first carnivore pollinators

Ethiopian wolves feed on the sweet nectar of a local flower, and may be the first carnivores discovered to act as pollinators.

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

Sandra Lai at the University of Oxford and her colleagues observed Ethiopian wolves lapping up the nectar of Ethiopian red hot poker (Kniphofia…