Fieldwork We fi nd a rare flower in Cuba. Red cups fi lled with nectar dangle under its pale blooms. Hummingbirds sip this flower’s nectar. A bird can’t pollinate this flower, though. It’s too tiny. It can slip between the flowers and nectar cups without picking up any pollen. So this flower needs a bat. We see a waxy, curved leaf growing
just above the ring of blooms. T is leaf could make echoes and call bats. We don’t have to wait long to find
This bird is a thief! It steals nectar without taking pollen. This bat is a helper. Its head brushes the pollen as it drinks nectar.
out. A bat comes along. It squeezes its furry body between the blooms and the cup of nectar. It drinks. Pollen dusts its head.
Sounds bounce off this cactus flower but get absorbed by the fuzz. That helps a bat fi nd the flower.
This leaf calls a bat!
This leaf calls a bat!
14 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER
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