Book 31, Question 23
Why do hummingbirds need to eat so often?
A hummingbird’s wings beat dozens of times each second, and its heart races.
That takes huge amounts of energy, so the bird sips sugary nectar and eats tiny insects through the day. It may feed every 10 to 15 minutes. At night it can save energy by going into a deep, sleep-like rest called torpor, when its body temperature and heartbeat drop.
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Quick answers
Why do hummingbirds need to eat so often?
Feeding on floral nectar while hovering requires extremely high rates of energy expenditure.
Source: National Institutes of Health
More fun facts
- Hummingbirds zip around so quickly their beating wings are a blur.
- Hummingbirds and nectar bats coevolved with the plants they visit to feed on floral nectars rich in sugars.
- The sugar oxidation cascade provides most of the energy required for flight in hover-feeding hummingbirds and nectar bats.
- Hummingbirds rely on both paracellular and carrier-mediated intestinal glucose absorption to fuel high metabolism.
- The features allowing hover-feeding in hummingbirds and nectar bats are remarkable examples of convergent evolution.
Sources: ASU, National Institutes of Health