yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

TIL: Hummingbirds Are the World's Hungriest Birds | Today I Learned


less than 1m read
·Nov 11, 2024

If you were to use energy as quickly as a hummingbird, you'd have to eat a fridge full of food or about 300 hamburgers every day in order to survive. They use energy so quickly as they fly, so, so fast. A lot of the flowers they feed on are really delicate, and if they were to perch on them, then they would pull the flower off. They have to hover in one place, which is really energy consuming. It's one of the most energetically expensive activities in the animal world, I think.

So, they use energy really, really quickly in order to survive. Everything about them is really tiny. The smallest hummingbird is like the weight of a dime, and the largest is 20 grams, which is maybe nine dimes stuck together. They don't have much room to store fat. If you were really heavy with fat, then you wouldn't be able to fly. So, they have to feed on nectar many, many, many times during the day.

If hummingbirds didn't have flowers to feed on, they would starve in as little as two hours. So, next time you need a snack, be thankful it's not a life-or-death situation.

All bees buzz, but bumblebees are one of the very few types of bees that actually take that buzzing sound and use it like a secret weapon to get pollen.

More Articles

View All
Drifting Away from People: The Dark Side of Solitude
In the novel The Stranger by absurdist philosopher Albert Camus, the main character Meursault finds himself, in a way, apart from the world around him. He’s not following conventions, doesn’t really mingle with his environment, and has a unique way of res…
Homeroom with Sal and Wendy Kopp - Wednesday, September 15
Hi everyone! Sal Khan here from Khan Academy. Welcome to the Homeroom live stream! It’s been a while since we did one, but we’re back and we have an amazing guest, Wendy Kopp, CEO of Teach For All, also the founder of Teach For America. We’re going to ta…
Guided meditation visualizing thoughts as the surface of an ocean
Welcome and thanks for taking out the time for yourself for what will hopefully be a nice inward journey. So just start off sitting upright, feet planted on the ground, if you’re ideally on some type of a firm chair. And start to soften your gaze. If you…
The Helicopter Speed Limit - Helicopter Physics Series - #7 - Smarter Every Day 51
Helicopters have a speed limit that has nothing to do with laws. Well, unless you count the laws of physics. Hey, it’s me, Destin. Welcome back to Smarter Every Day. The show where we do science. So today I’m gonna explain to you something pretty interes…
A Conversation with Ooshma Garg - Moderated by Adora Cheung
Thank you for coming today. My name is Dora; I’m one of the partners here at Y Combinator. Today we’re going to have a conversation with Oozma Magog, who is the CEO and founder of Gobble, which creates and delivers 15-minute pan dinners to you. I am perso…
How Do Bathrooms Work in Space? | StarTalk
We’re talking about life aboard the International Space Station featuring my interview with a guy who was there for nearly a year, Scott Kelly. I had to ask Scott the question that we all want to know the answer to: how do bathrooms work in space? Check …