Animals That Pollinate Flowers

Bees Bees are the superstars of pollination! They are probably the first creatures anyone would think of if asked to name an animal responsible for pollinating flowers. Approximately one third of our food supplies is dependent on pollination, and bees are responsible for most of it.

Hummingbirds Hummingbirds aren't the only pollinating birds, but they're the most well-known. Small and fast, hummingbirds can flit about from flower to flower like insects and, as the only birds that can hover, they're well suited to the task of drinking nectar. 

Butterflies While butterflies are not as efficient at pollination as bees — their long, thin legs and slight bodies can't collect and carry as much pollen — they get the job done nonetheless. They also enjoy a number of advantages those busy buzzers can't claim. 

Bats When the sun goes down, bats come out to continue pollination while the day shift goes to sleep. Bats are important pollinators of cacti and agave in deserts, and of all manner of vegetation in rain forests. The next time you go grocery shopping for fruits and vegetables, you should thank bats, since they're responsible for pollinating avocados, bananas, carob, cashews, cloves, dates, durian, figs, guavas, mangoes, peaches.

Ants Ants can be seen visiting flowers frequently, and they do pollinate to a certain degree, although the mutualistic relationship is more one-sided than usual. Since most ants can't fly, they don't access flowers as easily as animals who can; instead, ants have to crawl over plants and into flowers directly.

Beetles Bees and perhaps hummingbirds get all the glory and attention for pollinating flowers, but beetles are the real workhorses, pollinating more flowering plants — 88 percent — than any other animal. As some beetle species are hundreds of millions of years old, they are also some of the first creatures to ever pollinate plants and, today, continue to pollinate the oldest flowers still in existence. 

Rodents The flowers of certain species of protea plants, aka "sugarbushes," are uniquely adapted to pollination by rodents like spiny mice. Birds reject sugarbush nectar because it contains too much of a sugar called xylose, which spiny mice are able to digest.

Lemurs Lemurs probably aren't the first animals that come to mind when you think of pollination, but many lemur species pollinate flowers. In fact, black-and-white ruffed lemurs are the largest pollinators on Earth. Other lemur pollinators include dwarf lemurs, mongoose lemurs and red-ruffed lemurs.

Possums In Australia, where more typical pollinators are scarce, the continent's possums have to step up to do the job. The honey possum, in particular, subsists on a diet made up exclusively of nectar and pollen. Honey possums survive on a number of different flowers, but favor various banksia plants. 

Lizards New research in the last decade has shown that the contribution of lizards to pollination has been underestimated. Scientists theorize that the mutualistic relationship between lizards and flowers is limited to islands on which lizard populations are both denser than on the mainland, and where they have fewer predators.