Hummingbirds are one of the smallest species of bird in the world with the average size measuring only 3-5 inches. The record for the smallest bird in history is actually a species of the hummingbird called the Bee Hummingbird, which averaged only 5-cm! These birds are amazing for several reasons, including their size and the speed at which they move their wings, but one aspect most people don’t know about them is that they are almost always just hours away from starving to death!
The reason they do this is because of the speed of their wings, which beat 12-80 times every second. The strange part is that they are not starving because they don’t consume food as many would assume, but rather because they burn it off so fast. With a heart rate reaching 1,260 beats per minute they have the fastest metabolism of any animal.
They consume up to double their own weight in nectar each day, yet move so much for their size that they simply burn it off extremely quickly and nearly starve until they eat again!