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PROGRAMME INFO |
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Nature offers a window on global natural history. Each week Mark Carwardine rubs shoulders with animals and experts, providing a unique insight into the natural world, the environment, and the magnificent creatures that inhabit it.
nhuradio@bbc.co.uk |
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LISTEN AGAIN 30 min |
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PRESENTER |
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"What I enjoy most about Nature is the incredible variety of subjects. One week we could be fishing for zooplankton off the coast of Iceland and the next we could be hunting for fossils in Dorset. We're also very fortunate in meeting many of the world's experts - all of whom are really passionate about their subjects. It's good being able to bring all of these experiences into one programme that truly explores the natural world."
Mark Carwardine |
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PROGRAMME DETAILS |
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The Superlative Bird
Hummingbirds are birds of many superlatives. They include the smallest warm-blooded creatures in the world and they have the fastest metabolism of any animal. Mark Carwardine reveals the latest science behind the bird that lives on a razor’s edge.
The American ornithologist John James Audubon described the hummingbird as a "glittery fragment of the rainbow". To the modern scientist, these colourful birds have always been a popular source of study and in North America, a growing tourist industry has been built around hummingbird "ranches" where bird are fed on nectar from special dispensers.
Mark Carwardine travels to Arizona to stay on a hummingbird ranch and meet the scientists who are unravelling their behaviour. Not only are these the smallest birds in the world, but they have the fastest metabolisms of any animal and live on a razor’s edge between starvation and vigour. Their hovering flight is the most energy-demanding form of locomotion in the natural world and to fuel it they have to consume their own body weight in nectar every day - the equivalent of a 13-stone man downing 170 lbs of hamburger!
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But as well as having the smallest nests, fastest heartbeats and fewest feathers of any bird, hummingbirds may also have the best memories, knowing exactly how many flowers are in their territories and when they were last visited. And mark also reveals that the strange evolutionary partnerships between plants and their pollinating hummingbirds are not as straightforward as we may sometimes think.
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RELATED LINKS
Hummingbird Banding Research Programme
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