Wise Young
11-16-2006, 03:20 AM
Hummingbirds are incredible animals. There are of course many internet web sites that give amazing facts and figures about the hummingbird but most of these sites only give part of the amazing story of hummingbirds. Here are some real wing-dingers.
Size. The bee hummingbird Mellisuga helenae is the smallest of hummingbirds and is only 2 inches from the tip of its beak to the tip of its tail, weighing only 2 grams. The nest of this hummingbird has an area of 1 squared centimeter (Source (http://www.earthlife.net/birds/intro.html)). The male bee hummingbird is even smaller, about 57 mm long and weighs only 1.6 grams (Source (http://www.indianchild.com/amazing_facts5.htm)). Incidentally, there are 5000 species of hummingbirds.
Monster Eggs. The eggs of hummingbirds are the smallest of any bird. But, even more amazingly, the eggs of a bee hummingbird are 1 cm long, over half the size of the bird not counting the tail. How in the world does a hummingbird lay an egg that is half as long as its own body? Ouch! (Source (http://www.4to40.com/omg/default.asp?category=&counter=120)). By the way, the smallest hummingbird egg is 10 mm in length and is laid by the Vervain Hummingbird Mellisuga minima that lives in Jamacia and nearby islets. The egg is barely the size of a pea and weighs less than 0.356 g (Source (http://www.indianchild.com/amazing_facts5.htm))
The longest beak. The Sword-billed Hummingbird Ensifera ensifera that lives in the high Andes from Venezuela to Bolivia, has the longest beak relative to its body size than any other bird. It bill is 10.4 cm long, 4 times longer than its body, not counting the tail. (Source (http://www.indianchild.com/amazing_facts5.htm)). Amazing that the bird can fly with this long protrusion. But, even more important and interesting, the length of the beak of the hummingbird clearly evolved to feed on specific flowers and the flowers clearly evolved for its hummingbird which is its only pollinator (Source (http://www.apologeticspress.org/modules.php?name=Read&itemid=2533&cat=11)).
The fastest wingbeat. When hovering, the Horned Sungem Heliactin cornuta in tropical South America beats its wings at 90 beats per second(Source (http://www.indianchild.com/amazing_facts5.htm)). During acceleration, the hummingbird can beat its wings at 150-200 times per second (Source (http://www.apologeticspress.org/modules.php?name=Read&itemid=2533&cat=11)). That is fast, ranging from 5-11.1 msec per wingbeat. Considering that the fastest muscle action potentials have durations of 4-5 msec, how does the hummingbird activate its wing muscles so rapidly? The wings of a hummingbird usually constitute as much as half of the body weight of the bird. Its flight mechanism is very different from that of an insect (Source (http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2005/Jun05/hummingbird.htm)).
Metabolism. The heartrate of a hummingbird is amongst the fastest in the animal kingdom. It beats 1260 times in one minute or 21 times per second (Source (http://www.canadiangardening.com/cgi-bin/cgforum1/cg_config.pl?noframes;read=187176)). Note that the heart beats slower than the wingbeat. The metabolic rate of the hummingbird is correspondingly the highest of all animals (Source (http://www.canadiangardening.com/cgi-bin/cgforum1/cg_config.pl?noframes;read=187176)). In order to fly 12 hours per day, the hummingbird must eat four times its body weight in nectar every day (Source (http://www.apologeticspress.org/modules.php?name=Read&itemid=2533&cat=11)).
The strongest and lightest feathers. The feather of a hummingbird reflect light of different colors and have no intrinsic color. They are the lightest and strongest of bird feathers (Source (http://www.helenair.com/articles/2005/07/07/outdoors/c02070705_01.txt)).
The smallest and biggest brains. The brain of the hummingbird weighs only 1 gm but this may be as much half of their body weight, by far the highest brain to body weight ratio of any animal (Source (http://www.theconnection.org/shows/2003/01/20030114_b_main.asp)). You might say that they are mostly brain. With this brain, hummingbirds not only can hover, fly forward and backwards better than any helicopter but can sing a huge variety of song (Source (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v406/n6796/abs/406628a0.html)). Their brains have structures that are remarkably like that of songbirds and parrots. Hummingbirds have the ability of highly adaptive vocal learning. In addition, some hummingbirds migrate long distances and have remarkable memories for returning to the same fields over time. For example, the Rufous Hummingbird flies from Alaska to Mexico every year but the same birds visit the same fields in the Bay Area year after year (Source (http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?issue=04-11-06&storyID=23882)), and even will bring their young to the same feeding devices and remember precisely when they last fed from a given flower, to give it time to replenish its nectar. The brain of the hummingbird is very similar to human in their circuitry for episodic memory, as well as learning and vocalizing new sounds. Did they evolve this complex neural circuitry independently of parrots and humans?
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2006/03/06/hummingbirds060306.html
Hummingbirds sing a precise food tune
Last Updated: Monday, March 6, 2006 | 6:24 PM ET
CBC News
Wild hummingbirds have plenty of thoughts of food despite their minuscule brains, say researchers who note that the tiny birds' "episodic" memory for nectar feedings is so exact that it's unique among wildlife.
In fact, rufous hummingbirds in the Canadian Rockies show episodic memory similar to the way humans use a stopwatch, researchers Andrew Hurly at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta and his colleagues in Britain have found.
The scientists' study, in Tuesday's issue of the journal Current Biology, says hummingbirds are adept at remembering the timing of their feedings.
"Not only is this the first time that this degree of timing ability has been shown in wild animals, but these hummingbirds also exhibit two of the fundamental aspects of episodic-like memory (where and when), the kind of memory for specific events often thought to be exclusive to humans," they wrote.
The team tracked how often wild hummingbirds visited eight artificial flowers filled with a sugar solution in June and July of 2000.
Half of the flowers were refilled every 10 minutes, while the others were loaded with the sugar every 20 minutes.
The birds returned to the flowers on schedule, going to the 10-minute refills sooner than those that were topped up every 20 minutes, the researchers found.
Here is a picture of a hummingbird in flight.
http://www.gregscott.com/gjs_2006_spring/hummers/CRW_7637_broadbill_sideways_med.jpg
Size. The bee hummingbird Mellisuga helenae is the smallest of hummingbirds and is only 2 inches from the tip of its beak to the tip of its tail, weighing only 2 grams. The nest of this hummingbird has an area of 1 squared centimeter (Source (http://www.earthlife.net/birds/intro.html)). The male bee hummingbird is even smaller, about 57 mm long and weighs only 1.6 grams (Source (http://www.indianchild.com/amazing_facts5.htm)). Incidentally, there are 5000 species of hummingbirds.
Monster Eggs. The eggs of hummingbirds are the smallest of any bird. But, even more amazingly, the eggs of a bee hummingbird are 1 cm long, over half the size of the bird not counting the tail. How in the world does a hummingbird lay an egg that is half as long as its own body? Ouch! (Source (http://www.4to40.com/omg/default.asp?category=&counter=120)). By the way, the smallest hummingbird egg is 10 mm in length and is laid by the Vervain Hummingbird Mellisuga minima that lives in Jamacia and nearby islets. The egg is barely the size of a pea and weighs less than 0.356 g (Source (http://www.indianchild.com/amazing_facts5.htm))
The longest beak. The Sword-billed Hummingbird Ensifera ensifera that lives in the high Andes from Venezuela to Bolivia, has the longest beak relative to its body size than any other bird. It bill is 10.4 cm long, 4 times longer than its body, not counting the tail. (Source (http://www.indianchild.com/amazing_facts5.htm)). Amazing that the bird can fly with this long protrusion. But, even more important and interesting, the length of the beak of the hummingbird clearly evolved to feed on specific flowers and the flowers clearly evolved for its hummingbird which is its only pollinator (Source (http://www.apologeticspress.org/modules.php?name=Read&itemid=2533&cat=11)).
The fastest wingbeat. When hovering, the Horned Sungem Heliactin cornuta in tropical South America beats its wings at 90 beats per second(Source (http://www.indianchild.com/amazing_facts5.htm)). During acceleration, the hummingbird can beat its wings at 150-200 times per second (Source (http://www.apologeticspress.org/modules.php?name=Read&itemid=2533&cat=11)). That is fast, ranging from 5-11.1 msec per wingbeat. Considering that the fastest muscle action potentials have durations of 4-5 msec, how does the hummingbird activate its wing muscles so rapidly? The wings of a hummingbird usually constitute as much as half of the body weight of the bird. Its flight mechanism is very different from that of an insect (Source (http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2005/Jun05/hummingbird.htm)).
Metabolism. The heartrate of a hummingbird is amongst the fastest in the animal kingdom. It beats 1260 times in one minute or 21 times per second (Source (http://www.canadiangardening.com/cgi-bin/cgforum1/cg_config.pl?noframes;read=187176)). Note that the heart beats slower than the wingbeat. The metabolic rate of the hummingbird is correspondingly the highest of all animals (Source (http://www.canadiangardening.com/cgi-bin/cgforum1/cg_config.pl?noframes;read=187176)). In order to fly 12 hours per day, the hummingbird must eat four times its body weight in nectar every day (Source (http://www.apologeticspress.org/modules.php?name=Read&itemid=2533&cat=11)).
The strongest and lightest feathers. The feather of a hummingbird reflect light of different colors and have no intrinsic color. They are the lightest and strongest of bird feathers (Source (http://www.helenair.com/articles/2005/07/07/outdoors/c02070705_01.txt)).
The smallest and biggest brains. The brain of the hummingbird weighs only 1 gm but this may be as much half of their body weight, by far the highest brain to body weight ratio of any animal (Source (http://www.theconnection.org/shows/2003/01/20030114_b_main.asp)). You might say that they are mostly brain. With this brain, hummingbirds not only can hover, fly forward and backwards better than any helicopter but can sing a huge variety of song (Source (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v406/n6796/abs/406628a0.html)). Their brains have structures that are remarkably like that of songbirds and parrots. Hummingbirds have the ability of highly adaptive vocal learning. In addition, some hummingbirds migrate long distances and have remarkable memories for returning to the same fields over time. For example, the Rufous Hummingbird flies from Alaska to Mexico every year but the same birds visit the same fields in the Bay Area year after year (Source (http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?issue=04-11-06&storyID=23882)), and even will bring their young to the same feeding devices and remember precisely when they last fed from a given flower, to give it time to replenish its nectar. The brain of the hummingbird is very similar to human in their circuitry for episodic memory, as well as learning and vocalizing new sounds. Did they evolve this complex neural circuitry independently of parrots and humans?
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2006/03/06/hummingbirds060306.html
Hummingbirds sing a precise food tune
Last Updated: Monday, March 6, 2006 | 6:24 PM ET
CBC News
Wild hummingbirds have plenty of thoughts of food despite their minuscule brains, say researchers who note that the tiny birds' "episodic" memory for nectar feedings is so exact that it's unique among wildlife.
In fact, rufous hummingbirds in the Canadian Rockies show episodic memory similar to the way humans use a stopwatch, researchers Andrew Hurly at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta and his colleagues in Britain have found.
The scientists' study, in Tuesday's issue of the journal Current Biology, says hummingbirds are adept at remembering the timing of their feedings.
"Not only is this the first time that this degree of timing ability has been shown in wild animals, but these hummingbirds also exhibit two of the fundamental aspects of episodic-like memory (where and when), the kind of memory for specific events often thought to be exclusive to humans," they wrote.
The team tracked how often wild hummingbirds visited eight artificial flowers filled with a sugar solution in June and July of 2000.
Half of the flowers were refilled every 10 minutes, while the others were loaded with the sugar every 20 minutes.
The birds returned to the flowers on schedule, going to the 10-minute refills sooner than those that were topped up every 20 minutes, the researchers found.
Here is a picture of a hummingbird in flight.
http://www.gregscott.com/gjs_2006_spring/hummers/CRW_7637_broadbill_sideways_med.jpg