Date:
November 19, 2015
Source:
University of Faculty of Science British Columbia
Brute
strength is surprisingly important to the ability of hummingbirds to
outmaneuver rivals for nectar and evade predators, according to new University
of British Columbia research published in eLife.
An
intensive study of 20 Anna's hummingbirds, Calypte anna, led by the University
of British Columbia, revealed that birds with the highest muscle capacity are
able to accelerate faster and make more demanding, complex turns.
"We
had expected wing morphology and body mass to have more of an influence on
maneuverability so were surprised that muscle capacity is so important,"
says Doug Altshuler, lead author from the University of British Columbia.
The
scientists will repeat the experiments with other tropical species that have
greater variation in body mass and wing morphology. These field studies will
help determine whether the findings are common to other hummingbirds.
The
muscle capacity of the birds was determined by attaching a necklace of weighted
beads to each bird. Hummingbirds are able to fly directly upwards, and their
maximum weight-lifting ability could be measured by how many of the beads they
were able to lift. A two-hour solo flight of each bird was filmed to record and
analyse their aerial displays.
The
research could find an application in the development of autonomous vehicles.
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