Interesting facts about the hummingbird for children

According to the legends of the ancient city of Teotihuacan, located in Mexico, the hummingbird is the soul of the deceased warrior. People for centuries believed in this and protected the hummingbird. Interesting facts, briefly telling about this miniature creation, are collected in this article. Kids and their parents will be interested to learn more about the birdie.

On the verge of extinction

Few people know, but the skins of beautiful hummingbirds are in great demand in the fashion industry. Of these, various ornaments are made, and exquisite ladies do not spare any money to get such a product. Over the past decades, small hummingbirds have declined sharply in the population, because people who want to get a lot of money destroy birds in incredible quantities. We offer to consider 10 interesting facts about hummingbirds.

Where do birds live?

At first glance it seems that these creatures are absolutely not adapted to life. I want to take care of them, to hide from all winds and rains. In fact, it is the most hardy creation of hummingbirds - a bird, interesting facts about which are presented in this article. And here's the first one: the baby is so adapted to any climatic conditions that occurs in Argentina, Arizona, the coast of Nova Scotia and even Alaska itself! But, despite the appearance of wide distribution, hummingbirds live only in the territories of the New World.

Only once, ocher hummingbird was seen on the territory of Russia. It happened in 1976, and the baby was found on Ratmanov Island, which is in the Bering Strait.

Dimensions

Today we will tell the most interesting facts about the hummingbird. Many mistakenly assume that this bird exists in a single form and has a miniature shape. However, there are only 300 species! Among them, the smallest is the hummingbird. It weighs no more than one and a half grammes, and its size along with the tail and beak is equal to an average of five centimeters, there are giant specimens that have grown to seven!

There are also quite large sizes of hummingbirds, which the language does not even turn to be called. This is a gigantic appearance, reaching a size of 21.6 centimeters.

On average, hummingbirds live nine years. Of these, most of the time is spent in the air, eating.

Glutton

Since we today started talking about interesting facts about the humming bird, it is worth mentioning about its very healthy appetite. A small creature loves to eat, and he needs an incredible amount of food. For 16 hours of wakefulness, a hummingbird drinks about 120 times and eats a meal that exceeds its own weight by half! They feed on the fly, hanging over the flower. It was believed that the ration of the baby consists only of flower nectar. However, as it became known relatively recently, most of the menu consists of small insects living in flowers.

A lot of food for a small creature is required in order to maintain a stable body temperature and help an incredibly fast metabolism.

Little bird with a huge heart

Speaking of a big heart, do not mean her kindness and generosity! The heart of the hummingbird is really very large, compared with the overall size. The volume of a vital organ is three times that of an insatiable stomach. The heart takes half of the already small calf. But the nature of the creation of birds was not mistaken, but everything was foreseen. These birds are very active, restless and nimble, which is why they need a good, high-quality "motor". It is also necessary to help maintain a rapid metabolism. It is worth noting that the red blood cells in the body of the described creation is much more than other representatives of the feathered world.

Count the beats per minute

Today we are interested in a bird of hummingbirds, interesting facts about it. Speaking about the heart of this crumb, we wrote about its size. But not only its volume is famous for this body. The heart of the feathered creature beats with a frequency of five hundred beats per minute, and this is with its calm state. If she fights or escapes from the enemy, then the muscle develops an incredible speed and can be reduced to 1200 times a minute! For nine years of life, "motor" is reduced about 4.5 billion times, which is twice the number of cuts in the human heart for seventy years.

Speed of flight

Considering interesting facts about hummingbirds, one should not omit such an important moment as the speed of this baby. Small species are quite agile, maneuverable, and they can not be caught like a butterfly, because the maximum speed of a bird is about eighty kilometers per hour. They emit buzzing, like insects, thanks to the number of swings their wings, and they are from eighty to a hundred per second. It is worth noting that large species of described birds can swing their wings only 8-10 times during the same time.

Thanks to the speed of flight and the number of strokes of the wings of the hummingbirds above the flower resembles a frozen statuette, and the outlines of its wings are completely invisible. By the way, this bird is unique in its kind, endowed with the gift of flying backward and sideways. It's amazing, is not it?

Brave creature

Today's theme is interesting facts about hummingbirds. This small and quite harmless at first glance birdie is a true brave. Defending their nest and offspring, and sometimes themselves, it becomes a thunderstorm of predators. The baby is threateningly rushing not only to representatives of a kind, but also to large birds, who with their beaks can swallow it whole. No one expects such courage from her, and she is as agile as a yule. Hulking, fearsome birds simply do not keep up with her, and she takes advantage of the incident to continue to confuse and drive out a big enemy. Not every cute and small creature is endowed with such temper and bravery as the smallest representative of the genus of birds, and this deserves respect.

Perfect grip with air

With a more detailed study of hummingbirds, scientists have installed in the area of its habitat a miniature camera that can capture the fastest moments. With the help of this observation eye, new interesting facts about the hummingbirds were revealed. The crumb doing the peak developed such a speed, which allowed it to fly a distance of four hundred corps in one second. If we compare the speed and length of the bird's body, we can make incredible conclusions: the ratio of these parameters is much higher than that of a space shuttle passing through the dense layers of the atmosphere, and a jet fighter that has an afterburner turned on! But that is not all. At the crucial moment of getting out of the pike, the baby showed such inhibition, which can be envied. Such a sharp and accurate "brake" is not endowed with any conqueror of airspace from the animal world and created by man.

The female is responsible for the offspring

Hummingbirds do not get along together and that's why they never create couples. Males are not endowed with parental instincts at all, and chicks do not interest them at all. Few creatures add up all the obligations to the woman, including the upbringing of the offspring. Female hummingbirds - an independent and self-sufficient representative of the fair sex, she does not need the help of a male. It itself will destroy the nest from natural fluff, grass grasses, hang it to the foliage or stick it with saliva to the rock. There she will lay two white eggs, in rare cases - one. She will take care of him for 14-19 days. When a naked, small and defenseless chick hatchs into the light, it will feed it, again without the help of a male. Hummingbird is a good, caring mother.

What is Hummingbird?

Considering interesting facts about hummingbirds, I want to mention that the name of a small bird is very popular. In her honor a music group from St. Petersburg is named, although the little one can not sing beautifully, like, for example, a nightingale. Also her name is a pistol created by designer Franz Pfannlem, a kayak of German origin with a unique skeleton and a hybrid aerostat.

Today, the most interesting facts about the hummingbird were presented for review. We hope that this article was of interest not only to young readers, but also to the older generation.