“I hate to contradict Darwin,” says evolutionary biologist Joan Maloof. Yet the great man may have been a little quick to declare something a crime.
Pollinator: A hummingbird, with a bill long enough to reach the nectar deep in a scarlet gilia, counts as a legitimate pollinator for the Rocky Mountain plant. Robber: This bumblebee’s short tongue can’t reach the nectar from the front of the flower, so the bee chews a hole near the trumpet base and steals a drink.
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