The Hummingbird

Indifferent to the latest low-carb diet craze, hummingbirds can devour half their weight in pure sugar each day.  Costa Rica boasts more than 50 different species of hummingbird, many showcasing shimmering colors and sporting uniquely shaped beaks designed to draw nectar from the types of flowers they have evolved to favor.  These flashy little aerial acrobats also consume flying insects and spiders to help them get the proteins and vitamins they need to keep their wings racing up to 100 beats per second. With one of the highest metabolisms in the animal kingdom, hummingbirds are never too far away from starving, and get pretty sensitive about keeping their favorite nectar sources all to themselves.  To save vital energy at night, they can even reduce their metabolism, heart rate, and breathing by entering a hibernation-like state called torpor…not to be confused with a sugar crash.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2014 at 8:00 am. It is filed under Costa Rica, Nature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.