How-To: Other Pollinators
More than 300 species of hummingbirds live in North, Central and South America. When a hummingbird extends its very long tongue deep into a flower to drink its nectar, pollen sticks to the hummingbird's beak and head. Some of the pollen grains drop off when it visits other flowers, pollinating them.
Celebrating Wildflowers: Animal Pollination
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/animals.shtml
From the U.S. Forest Service
Animal pollinators play a crucial role in flowering plant reproduction and in the production of most fruits and vegetables. Most plants require the assistance of pollinators to produce seeds and fruit. About 80% of all flowering plants and over three-quarters of the staple crop plants that feed humankind rely on animal pollinators.
Celebrating Wildflowers: Bat Pollination
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/bats.shtml
From the U.S. Forest Service
After dark, moths and bats take over the pollinator night shift. Bats are very important pollinators in tropical and desert climates. Most flower-visiting bats are found in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Two species of nectar-feeding bats, the lesser long-nosed bat and the Mexican long-tongued bat, migrate north a thousand miles or more every spring from Mexico into Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Both are listed as federally endangered species.
Nectarivorous Bats
http://www.nps.gov/sagu/naturescience/nectarivorous-bats.htm
From Saguaro National Park
This migratory, nectar- and pollen-feeding bat depends on plants adapted for bat pollination (like the agave). The Mexican long-tongued bat follows the flowering agave northward during the spring, arriving in Arizona in early summer. The agave gets a pollinator that transports its pollen, while the bat gets a meal of rich nectar and protein-filled pollen. To make it even easier on the bat, the flowers are thrust high into the sky, light colored, and easily spotted at night. The Mexican long-tongued bat, as the name implies, has a long tongue tipped with brush-like projections for lapping nectar.
Pollination and Bats in the Jungle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLbARAvPSI8
From You Tube
British naturalist David Attenborough explains tree pollination and seed distribution in the jungle.