Wild gerbils pollinate African desert lily

Gerbils haven’t taken to the air and started buzzing, but scientists now have

A hairy-footed gerbil probes for nectar (above) in a Massonia bloom from southern Africa and emerges with a yellow, pollen-dusted snout (below). A. Pauw and Johnson

A. Pauw and Johnson

evidence that they spread pollen as bees do.

In southern Africa, the hairy-footed and the short-tailed gerbils poke into a

ground-hugging lily, slurping nectar and emerging dusted with pollen, says Steven

D.