Written By: Aimee Turcotte Zoo Educator Pollinators are animals that fertilize plants by transferring pollen grains from one flower to another. When discussing pollinators, the most common animals that are mentioned are butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. However, there are many other types of pollinators. In fact, some people may call a few pollinators ‘unusual’ because they did not expect those animals to be pollinators! Join me to learn about the ‘unusual’ pollinators! Black-and-white ruffed lemurs, a type of prosimian primate, live in the trees of Madagascar. They pollinate traveler’s palms by eating nectar and moving pollen to various flowers. These lemurs use their strength to pull apart flower bracts, sticking their snouts and tongues into flowers to eat nectar. The pollen from these flowers sticks onto a lemur’s face and falls onto flowers as lemurs move through the trees. Pollination of plants by lemurs results in the growth of fruits, which are a source of food for many animals. Interestingly, there are no pollinators that are larger than the lemur!
Honey possums are marsupials that originate from Australia in habitats where there are banksia and eucalyptus flowers. These animals rely entirely on the pollen and nectar of the banksia and eucalyptus flowers for survival. Honey possums search for flowers by hanging off the branches of trees using their prehensile tail and grasping feet. Once they find a flower, honey possums put their pointed snouts into the flower and drink the nectar with their long tongue. The pollen grains from the flower may rub onto the honey possum’s snout and be transported to other flowers, resulting in pollination. Some scientists see these animals as a keystone species in the kwongan areas of southwest Australia because of their role as the primary pollinator for nodding banksia. Nodding banksia is a vulnerable species of shrub with flowers that smell like onion and that are purplish-brown after they are in anthesis (fully open). Reptiles, such as skinks, lizards, and geckos, can pollinate flowers as well! The Noronha skink, also known as the ‘little dragon,’ lives in the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago in the SW Atlantic. This animal occasionally visits the flowers of the leguminous mulungu tree during the dry season because of a lack of water on the island. The Noronha skink relies on the nectar of the tree for sugar and water intake, drinking the nectar from a flower by sticking its head into the flower. While moving on the flower, the Norohna skink may have pollen attached to the scales on its body. The pollen can be transferred to other flowers by the skink moving to various flowers throughout the day. The larger Norohna skinks may chase the smaller ones away from the flowers of a leguminous mulungu tree to protect their access to nectar. Thank you for reading this blog! I hope you have enjoyed learning about lemurs, possums, and reptiles, our ‘unusual’ pollinators!
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