Peru, Nov 1: The black metaltail hummingbirds living in the Andes mountains of Peru (5,000 meters above the sea level) have a unique mechanism of keeping themselves chill at nights to save energy. Scientists have found out that these birds enter into a state known as torpor, means suspended animation. They remain still and their heart rate slows down to just 40 beats a minute (normal heart beat is 1,200 times a minute). Their body temperature drops down up to 3.26 degree Celsius. They become cold as a rock. As the Sun rises, they start reviving up again. They vibrate their muscles and warm up by one degree a minute. Then their eyes pop open and they are ready to move.
Hummingbirds weigh only about 6 grams and to fuel their flights they need nectar from 500 flowers a day. So they don’t waste energy on trying to stay warm all night. What a wonderful natural phenomenon!
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