So apparently, hummingbirds can fly faster than jets, and it's all to impress the ladies.
Christopher Clark from the University of California Berkeley filmed the courtship dives of male Anna's hummingbirds on cameras able to capture 500 frames per second.
Their top speed, he said, was "greater than [that] of a fighter jet with its afterburners on, or the space shuttle during atmospheric re-entry".
All seems a bit over-the-top to me, really.
Surely having a tongue that's several times longer than their body is all the attraction they need?
Christopher Clark from the University of California Berkeley filmed the courtship dives of male Anna's hummingbirds on cameras able to capture 500 frames per second.
Their top speed, he said, was "greater than [that] of a fighter jet with its afterburners on, or the space shuttle during atmospheric re-entry".
All seems a bit over-the-top to me, really.
Surely having a tongue that's several times longer than their body is all the attraction they need?
No limit to what a bloke will do to impress a bird.
ReplyDeleteThe important bit of that linked page is this:
ReplyDeleteWhen measured relative to the length of their bodies
And there was me thinking the flying rat could break the sound barrier.