Ethiopian wolves (Canis simensis) are one of the world’s rarest canids and they are also Africa’s most endangered predator. Ethiopian wolves also have another distinction: they are the first canids found to relish nectar and consume it in quantity.
Found only in Ethiopia, the wolves, also known as red jackals or simien foxes, inhabit seven fragmented mountainous habitats. They are about the size of North American coyotes, which they resemble. Unlike coyotes they are not generalist feeders. The bulk of their diet is afroalpine rodents. But they apparently have a sweet tooth . Also unlike coyotes, which may number in the millions, they number around 500.
The nectar comes from the Ethiopian red hot poker plant.
According to Popular Science:
“Ethiopian red hot pokers are perennial flowers of the Kniphofia genus native to African nation that typically bloom between May and October. Each year, pollinators such as birds, insects, and small mammals visit the plants to drink from their large amounts of nectar. But while the Ethiopian wolf’s diet is largely composed of rodents, a new study published on November 19th in the journal Ecology confirms that the red jackals also frequently forage for Ethiopian red hot poker nectar themselves.”
The magazine continued:
“The evidence gathered by the study’s authors at the University of Oxford’s Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme (EWCP) marks the first known documentation of large carnivores purposefully feeding on nectar. Researchers tracked the habits of a group of wolves over one bloom season, and noted that individual wolves visited as many as 30 blooms at a time. And it’s not just the adults that make trips to the flowering fields—the study also notes juvenile wolves appear to learn how to harvest the nectar from their parents and other pack members.
Each wolf’s muzzle often is coated in fine, yellow pollen after their nectar snack. While not directly confirmed, researchers believe it highly likely that the predators’ subsequent migrations help spread the flowers much like other traditional pollinators.”
Ethiopian Afroalpine rodents come from a number of families:
narrow-headed rats (Stenocephalemys), brush furred rats (Lophuromys) grass rats (Arvicanthus), African viei rats (Otomys) and African root-rats(Taorcytes).
Coyotes, meanwhile are great in number and are now comfortable in American urban settings. Researchers in cities as far apart as Los Angeles, Chicago and New York are actively studying coyotes (Canis latrans) to better understand their interactions with people, pets and urban wildlife.