Items14The creator’s order
  1. 1Lesser long-nosed batLesser long-nosed batA natural pollinator of agave, the plant tequila is made from. Each spring it follows a corridor of blooms from Mexico into southern Arizona, drinking nectar from agaves and columnar cacti such as the saguaro and dusting the next flower with pollen as it goes. Its tongue is roughly as long as its…0
  2. 2Cave nectar batCave nectar batIf you have ever eaten durian, thank a bat. This small Southeast Asian fruit bat roosts in caves and feeds at night on the nectar of durian blossoms. A 2019 study in Sulawesi kept different visitors away from durian flowers and found that the flowers open to bats set far more fruit than those…0
  3. 3Honey possumHoney possumA marsupial that weighs 5 to 10 grams and lives entirely on nectar and pollen, the only mammal outside the bats known to do so. It is found only in the far southwest of Western Australia, where it climbs through banksias and other heath shrubs, lapping nectar with a long tongue tipped in brush-like…0
  4. 4Black-and-white ruffed lemurBlack-and-white ruffed lemurOften called the world's largest pollinator. In Madagascar's rainforests this lemur feeds on the big flowers of the traveler's tree, Ravenala madagascariensis, pushing its long snout deep inside to reach the nectar and coming away with pollen on its face and fur for the next tree. Fruit makes up…0
  5. 5Ruby-throated hummingbirdRuby-throated hummingbirdThe one on this list most gardeners in eastern North America can actually invite over. Red, tubular flowers are the classic hummingbird design, and the cardinal flower, Lobelia cardinalis, is the clearest example: as the bird probes for nectar, its head hits the anthers and then pollinates the…0
  6. 6Malachite sunbirdMalachite sunbirdSunbirds fill the hummingbird's role across Africa, Asia and Australasia, though they usually perch to feed rather than hover. The malachite sunbird of southern Africa shows how far a plant will go to accommodate that habit. Babiana ringens, the rat's tail of South Africa's Cape, holds its bright…0
  7. 7Blue-tailed day geckoBlue-tailed day geckoLizards, geckos and skinks can pollinate too, and this bright Mauritian day gecko is one of the best-documented cases. It laps nectar from flowers and carries pollen between them, and it has long been described as both pollinator and seed disperser of Roussea simplex, a critically endangered shrub…0
  8. 8XanthopanXanthopanWallace's sphinx moth, Xanthopan praedicta, and Darwin's orchid Hawk-moths hover at night and drink through a long coiled proboscis, and this Madagascan species is the most famous of them. Darwin looked at the star orchid Angraecum sesquipedale, whose nectar sits at the bottom of a spur 12 to 18…0
  9. 9TegeticulaTegeticulaYucca moths of the genus Tegeticula Most pollinators move pollen by accident while feeding. Female yucca moths do it on purpose. Using tentacle-like mouthparts found only in yucca moths, a female gathers a ball of pollen from one yucca flower, flies to another, lays her eggs in its ovary and then…0
  10. 10AeropetesAeropetesThe mountain pride butterfly, Aeropetes tulbaghia, and the red disa Butterflies are not usually picky, but this big brown butterfly of South Africa's mountains is. It is strongly attracted to red, pollinates around 15 red-flowered Cape plants and largely ignores flowers of any other color. Its…0