Last yr , high - speed footage of hummingbird drinking override the centuries - old notionthat the birds fertilise using capillary action . rather , it turns out the birds trap the nectar by curling their tongue around it . Now , young inquiry in the Proceedings of the Royal Society Bhas shown that there might have been some truth in those previous belief after all .
hummingbird possess a unique tongue shape — a brace of flexible semi - circular channel . What the researchers found is that hummingbird ’ knife apply a combination of both method acting to carry liquidity . It ’s both “ elastocapillary distortion of the hummingbird ’s tongue and capillary suction along its length ” , stimulate them to dub the appendage a “ self - set up capillary siphon . ”
The tongue ’s tractability take into account the bird to rapidly throw off its tongue into fluids , curl so that the opening slant is an optimum 150 ° ( which , on the face of it , it is ) , and then raise the trapped liquid into its oral cavity and release it . The capillary action elevate the liquidness up the knife ’s length , and is especially useful for gathering ambrosia from shallower blossom .
It ’s a unmistakably complex and specific member — and the researchers conceive it may even have co - develop with flower shapes . Since the hummingbird is such an important mark pollinator , bloom may have evolved to fit a hummingbird ’s tongue , as much as the other style around .
Image : © Wonjung Kim , François Peaudecerf , Maude W. Baldwin , and John W. M. Bush
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