A Nose for Nectar

As anyone who's sipped a smoothie knows, thick drinks are hard to suck through a straw. The orchid bee faces the same problem in trying to draw nectar up its long proboscis: According to a study published in the May issue of The American Naturalist, the insect consumes nectar five times more slowly than do lapping bees, such as honeybees. There's a reward for such plodding, though. The long-tubed tropical flowers the orchid bee visits offer up to 10 times more nectar than the flowers lapping bees feast on. And perhaps because the nectar sits too deep for other bee species to reach, orchid bees can afford to take their sweet time. (Photo: G. Dimijian)