Of all bird species, hummingbirds have the largest known relative heart size. The heart represents 2.4 percent of their body weight. The heart of a hummingbird is an extremely durable organism that weighs only five or six grams. It is the size of a cranberry and it averages 500 beats a minute, while it is perched. According to an article in the January 2007 issue of National Geographic Magazine, if a hummingbird lived for 17 years its heart would have thumped four and a half billion times, nearly twice the total for a 70-year-old person.
I don’t know about you but it is these kinds of little known facts about hummingbirds that never cease to amaze me. It is one of the many things that continually makes learning and writing about these birds so interesting and fun. This is also the type of interesting information about hummingbirds that my mom would have enjoyed discovering, but she isn’t living any longer so I will share my discovery with all of you who visit the blog.
Happy hummingbird watching everyone! I sincerely hope you are enjoying all that you are reading on the blog. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know. Also, what would you like to be discussed here in the future?