{"id":229249,"date":"2023-03-01T19:31:07","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T14:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=229249"},"modified":"2023-03-01T19:31:07","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T14:01:07","slug":"hummingbirds-and-indian-sunbirds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/hummingbirds-and-indian-sunbirds\/","title":{"rendered":"Hummingbirds and Indian sunbirds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source: <\/b>The post is based on the article <\/span>\u201cAztec hummingbirds and Indian sunbirds<\/b>\u201d <\/b>published in <\/span>The Hindu on 25th February 2023<\/b><\/p>\n

What is the News?<\/b><\/h2>\n

A <\/span>study found that the loss of a key gene, FBP2 makes Hummingbirds more efficient at breaking down sugar to use it for energy.<\/span><\/p>\n

What are Hummingbirds?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Hummingbirds are small, colourful birds found throughout the Americas. There are over 300 species of hummingbirds.<\/span><\/p>\n

They are known for their unique ability to hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings, which can beat up to 50 times per second.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hummingbirds feed on nectar from flowers and are important pollinators for many plant species. Tubular flowers that are bright red or orange (such as lantana and rhododendron) are preferred.<\/span><\/p>\n

The energy demands of hovering are very high. Relative to their body mass, hummingbirds have the highest metabolic rate (calories burnt per minute) among vertebrates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 Most of this energy comes from nectar. Rapid sugar uptake by their digestive system ensures that they utilize energy from nectar ingested just a few minutes ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their lungs are 10 times better at absorbing oxygen from the air than mammals of similar size.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hummingbirds are capable of vocal mimicries like parrots and some songbirds. They are also able to align their muscular movements with auditory sensations that come to their ears, creating a dance.<\/span><\/p>\n

What are the similarities between <\/b>Hummingbirds and Indian Sunbirds?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Indian Sunbirds, though unrelated to Hummingbirds, share many common features through convergent evolution. They are part of the same Nectariniidae family.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though slightly larger, the sunbirds can hover briefly, and go for bright, tubular flowers. They are critical pollinators of the \u2018Flame of the Forest\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the energy demands of hovering are very high, sunbirds need to \u2018perch\u2019 while feeding, unlike Hummingbirds. Like hummingbirds, they may catch insects, especially to feed their young.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on the article \u201cAztec hummingbirds and Indian sunbirds\u201d published in The Hindu on 25th February 2023 What is the News? A study found that the loss of a key gene, FBP2 makes Hummingbirds more efficient at breaking down sugar to use it for energy. What are Hummingbirds? Hummingbirds are small,… Continue reading Hummingbirds and Indian sunbirds<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10317,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,9],"tags":[10498],"class_list":["post-229249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-public","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}