Buzz Pollination

Here is a video of a Bumble bee gathering pollen from a nightshade. Bumble bees are able to vibrate their wing muscles at just the right frequency to release the pollen from the special stamens on these types of flowers. They also buzz pollinate tomatoes, blueberries, and other related plants. If you listen closely on the video you should be able to hear the distinctive buzz that shakes the pollen out of the flower.

Look out David Attenborough!

We saw some ants tending aphids outside our back door the other day. The pictures that we took didn't really do it justice, so I took this video. Now, its not quite BBC quality, but I'm just happy that I figured out how to upload videos to the blog.