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Photograph by Christian Ziegler
A kinkajou’s pollen-dusted cheek tells of a late-night nectar binge in an Ochroma, or balsa, tree.
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Photograph by Christian Ziegler
Two stingless bees drowned in a sugary pool; the woolly opossum drinks around them. On one tree, 50 to 60 flowers open nightly, each pumping out almost an ounce of nectar.
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Photograph by Christian Ziegler
A praying mantis on high alert waits for insects drawn through the night to collect Ochroma blossom pollen. Navigation lights glow in the background on the Panama Canal.
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Photograph by Christian Ziegler
White-faced capuchins, like this mother and baby, arrive daily at their favorite balsa trees just before nightfall.
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Photograph by Christian Ziegler
A bright flash of emerald and blue signals the arrival of a hummingbird.
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Photograph by Christian Ziegler
Africanized honeybees swarm toward an Ochroma flower just after sunset. The bees seek pollen; if they land by mistake in a blossom’s pool of nectar, they will probably drown. Their ability to see in slightly lower light than native stingless bees gives the honeybees a competitive advantage at night. Earlier in the day the natives often block access to flowers.
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Photograph by Christian Ziegler
A young boa constrictor bides its time on another bloom; the snake cares little for Ochroma nectar but wouldn’t pass up a meal of hummingbird.
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Photograph by Christian Ziegler
A greater spear-nosed bat hovers at a blossom. Bats were long considered the primary pollinators of Ochroma, but recent research suggests arboreal mammals do most of the work.
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Photograph by Christian Ziegler
An olingo, smaller cousin of the kinkajou (both are rain forest mammals related to raccoons), grasps a tattered flower. Kinkajous often shoo their kin away, but the quicker olingos often dart around in the trees, just out of reach, until flowers produce another batch of nectar.
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Photograph by Christian Ziegler
A hummingbird incubates her eggs in a nest built partly with fibers of the Ochroma fruit, which grows after pollinated flowers wither.
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Photograph by Christian Ziegler
Africanized honeybees circle the center of an Ochroma bloom, drinking nectar, while a black wasp lingers on a petal rim.
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Photograph by Christian Ziegler
In pale moonlight near dawn, a tiny gecko looking for bugs to eat perches on a flower near the end of its one-night stand.
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