The hummingbird has a long tail to probe into flowers for nectar. In fact, the bill acts like a covering to protect its forked tongue which is what the bird uses to get its fill of nectar. Did you know a hummingbird’s tongue is lightning fast, going in and out of a flower 18 to 20 times per second?
What makes them so intriguing to us is the result of this simple dietary choice: they drink nectar. Each flower doesn’t offer a lot, so to make a living off tiny amounts of nectar spread throughout the forest, hummingbirds are tiny, fast and feisty.
Feeding on nectar is hummingbirds’ defining characteristic, but until now scientists didn’t know the exact mechanics of how they do it. In our new study, we were able to slow them down on video to see how they really drink nectar. And what we found was quite different from the conventional wisdom since the 1800s.
Credit : Phys.org
Picture Credit : Google
