Pollen: Darwin's 130 Year Prediction (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781629441191)

POLLEN: DARWIN'S 130 YEAR PREDICTION

Elementary Science - POLLEN

How long does it take for science to find an answer to a problem?

On January 25, 1862, naturalist Charles Darwin received a box of orchids. One flower, the Madagascar star orchid, fascinated him. It had an 11.5" nectary, the place where flowers make nectar, the sweet liquid that insects and birds eat. How, he wondered, did insects pollinate the orchid? It took 130 years to find the answer.

After experiments, he made a prediction. There must be a giant moth with a 11.5" proboscis, a straw-like tongue. Darwin died without ever seeing the moth, which was catalogued by entomologists in in 1903. But still no one had actually observed the moth pollinating the orchid.

In 1992, German entomologist, Lutz Thilo Wasserthal, Ph.D. traveled to Madagascar. By then, the moths were rare. He managed to capture two moths and released them in a cage with the orchid. He captured the first photo of the moth pollinating the flower, as Darwin had predicted 130 years before.

Backmatter includes information on the moth, the orchid, Charles Darwin, Lutz Wasserthal. Also included is Wasserthal's original photo taken in 1992.

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Author: Darcy Pattison, Peter Willis
ISBN-10: 1629441198
ISBN-13: 9781629441191
Publisher: Mims House
Language: English
Published: 05/07/2019
Pages: 34
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.69lbs
Size: 8.50h x 8.50w x 0.25d

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.8
Point Value: 0.5
Interest Level: Lower Grade
Quiz #/Name: 504269 / Pollen: Darwin's 130-Year Prediction


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 04/15/2019 pg. 165
Publishers Weekly 06/17/2019