USDA Forest Service Celebrating Wildflowers

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Animal Pollination

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.

Pictures arranged in a wheel of a variety of animals, insects and bats, shown pollinating flowers.

Banner: Pollinators are responsible for 1 out of every 3 bites of food you eat!

Pollinators visit flowers in search of food, mates, shelter and nest-building materials. The energy that powers pollinator growth, metamorphosis, flight and reproduction comes from sugars in nectar, and the proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals from pollen grains.

The secret bond of the partnership is that neither plant nor pollinator populations can exist in isolation – should one disappear, the other is one generation away from disaster.

Follow the links below to learn more about these very important pollinators and the flowers they visit:

U.S. Forest Service
Rangeland Management
Botany Program
1400 Independence Ave., SW, Mailstop Code: 1103
Washington DC 20250-1103

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Location: http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/animals.shtml
Last modified: Tuesday, 20-May-2008 15:56:06 EDT