Posted on 03/08/2006 6:42:13 AM PST by GreenFreeper
OTTAWA (AFP) - The tiny Rufous hummingbird is able to recall where and when it last dined on the sweet nectar of flowers, according to new research, proving bird brains are smarter than first thought.
The study found the bird, with a brain no bigger than a grain of rice and which feeds on hundreds of flowers each day, could pinpoint the location of flowers it had visited and when the bit of nectar in each would be replenished.
Such episodic memory was previously thought to be exclusive to humans.
"This shows that animals have better memories than we thought and that you don't need a large brain for some complex tasks," study co-author Andrew Hurly told AFP.
"This is an animal whose brain is 7,000 times smaller than ours. It's pretty remarkable that they can combine space information and time intervals together and update them constantly throughout the day. It's a very sophisticated thing to do," the biology professor at the University of Lethbridge in western Canada said.
The groundbreaking study by Canadian and British scientists was published Tuesday in the journal Current Biology.
Scientists followed three rust-colored male birds during their summer migration through Canada's Rocky Mountains, recording how often they visited eight artificial flowers filled with a sucrose solution.
Half of the flowers were refilled at 10-minute intervals and the rest at 20-minute intervals after they had been sucked dry.
Researchers found the birds soon returned to the flowers according to the refill schedule.
Hurly speculated its special cognitive skills are necessary for the hummingbird's survival.
The birds, which weigh a mere 3.2 grams, migrate from southern United States and Mexico to breeding grounds in Alaska, traveling some 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) -- the longest known bird migration proportionate to size.
"It would be a waste of time for a hummingbird to return to (spent) flowers. It would be using too much energy. Hummingbirds are so tiny and their hearts beat so fast, it's really important for them to forage efficiently," Hurly said.
Previous experiments with laboratory animals found similar abilities after extensive training, but this is the first such observation in the wild where the subjects may be distracted by predators, courtships or other, he said.
"This is not a bird sitting on a perch in a quiet laboratory and trying to remember the time lapse between a beep and food being delivered."
Hmm, I was looking for pics on the internet and came across this:
http://www.rubythroat.org/QuestionsMyths01.html
Looks like they can't migrate with geese.
Iwent and looked also. I am just saying what I had seen in an outdoor mag about 30 years ago. Also, there are birds that don't leave in time from the north and get stranded.
We get them in our yard because we have honeysuckle bushes but one year I hung a humingbird feeder with sugar water and I got tons of wasps! I threw it away! I love watching the hummingbirds.
Ground hogs also burrow in the ground and you would not expect to see one climb a tree,but, they have been known to do it. They normaly hibernate in the dead of winter, but, I have seen them out in the snow before.
That sounds really neat. When I get swarmed it's usually seagulls. 8>) I have a roll of 35mm around here somewhere of pics of about ten grey jays chasing my son around up at Mowich Lake trying to get his sandwich. I wish I knew where I put that.
We put wasp traps out on either side of our feeders, in the corners of the yard. Wasps are incredibly stupid, and will go inside the traps even though they can clearly see the 20 already in there dead or dying.
They leave my feeders alone now.
Actually, I looked more. Several science sites confirmed the info. The geese fly at too high of an altitude and for too long for the hummingbirds to survive the flight. And, as I was realizing, the geese here do not migrate, so the hummingbird would not find them helpful in getting to tropical zones.
might try! Nothing worse than getting chased by wasps! They've stung my dogs too.
Ants.
might try! Nothing worse than getting chased by wasps! They've stung my dogs too.
Those are easily explainable. Especially the snow. We have had an extremely warm winter, and the bears are coming out.
"Hummingbirds have superb memories of last meals"
I thought this meant after death, like a prisoner's last meal. Is this a senior moment for me?
parsy, who wonders.
Lord please bless what I eat today
And make the camera guy go away.
When do these little guys start heading north again?
Has Cindy Sheehan beat.
I was wondering the same thing, and when should I hang up my feeders.
I just moved to this property last June, and had a ton of hummers all summer.I hung about five feeders on the front deck and they'd swarm right past our heads, often fighting each other over them.
The Cherokee Indians believed the hummers were the spirits of humans that had passed away.
I know Hummingbirds have memories. I've had them appear at the window where the feeder usually hangs (before I put the feeder out for the season), the next Springtime from the year before.
there is still snow on the ground here but when you notice them arriving let me know....it wont be much longer till they reach MN.
Absolutely no surprise to me. I had dozens of them in my yard when I lived in Tuba City,Arizona. When they returned in the spring, they would immediately go to the window where their feeders had hung they previous summer. I knew it was time to make some syrup.
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