The Amazillia amazillia is one species of hummingbird the researchers captured on film during the five years they monitored wild hummingbird feeding. (Image credit: Su Neko, Wikipedia Commons)
High-speed videos have shown how hummingbirds feed on nectar, and it’s not what was previously thought. It’s not in the same way fluid rises in a capillary tube. Hummingbirds actually extract nectar by creating a tiny pump using the tongue.
The new findings mean that fifty years of research studying how hummingbirds and floral nectar coevolved will have to be reconsidered.
Researchers captured videos of 18 hummingbird species in the wild, all feeding using the pump method. In this method the hummingbirds compress and flatten their tongue until it makes contact with nectar, after which it reshapes filling entirely with nectar. This method loads nectar faster than the capillary method could, and is in agreement with their fast licking rates.
Original research paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences on August 18, 2015.
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