theartfulgene:
Another great drawing by Ernst Haeckel from his book Kunstformen der Natur (you might have noticed I’m somewhat of a fan of his).
This time the drawing depicts various species of hummingbirds; you can find the names of all these species here.
The main food source of hummingbirds is flower nectar but have you ever wondered how hummingbirds reach and obtain the nectar residing deep inside a flower? It actually all comes down to an amazing structure of hummingbird’s tongue, which may not be quite what you’d expect! I have recently written about the mechanics of a hummingbird’s tongue in a blog post which you can find here.