Hummingbird's temperature can fall to

3.3C at night to preserve energy

Researchers in Andes find temperature a record for all birds and
non-hibernating mammals

Nicola Davis The Guardian 9 Sep 2020

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/09/hummingbirds-temperature-can-fall-to-
33c-at-night-to-preserve-energy

The study of six species of hummingbird, including the black metaltail, pictured, found they entered a
state of ‘torpor’, similar to hibernation. Photograph: All Canada Photos/Alamy

Hummingbirds have scooped another record: they are not only tiny but can
reach body temperatures below that of any non-hibernating mammal and any
other bird.

The hummingbird is among a number of small creatures, including certain bats,

that can enter a state known as daily torpor, a phenomenon where they turn
down their metabolism and body temperature to save energy.

Unlike hibernation, this is not a prolonged state: after a night in torpor, the
hummingbird’s metabolic rate rises again, with its body temperature reaching
around 40C.

Now researchers studying six species of the bright birds in the Andes, around
3,800 metres above sea level, have found the body temperature of the black
metaltail hummingbird can fall to as low as 3.3C.
Prof Andrew McKechnie, of the University of Pretoria, South Africa, a co-author
of the study, said torpor was vital to hummingbirds’ survival, as they would have
had to burn large amounts of energy to maintain a body temperature of around
40C during the cold Andean nights. “They wouldn’t be able to store up enough
fat at the end of the day to provide sufficient fuel to last them for the entire
night,” he said.

McKechnie said with the new study revealing that the body temperatures of
hummingbirds could fall to those more characteristic of hibernating animals, it
could be that the diminutive creatures were not only able to enter torpor, but to
hibernate. “It would be big news if they did,” said McKechnie. “Only one avian
hibernator has ever been reported.”

McKechnie said the mechanisms behind torpor were of interest for biomedical
applications. “At one stage Nasa was quite seriously asking whether it would be
possible to induce a torpor-like state, or hibernation-like state, in humans, in
order to get beyond the vicinity of Earth,” he said.

Writing in the journal Biology Letters, McKechnie and colleagues reported how
in Peru in March 2015 they captured 26 hummingbirds of six different species
and placed them in tents without food for at least one night, tracking changes in
body temperature and mass. Air temperatures fell to as low as 2.4C.

The team found that 24 of the 26 birds, covering all six species, entered torpor;
however their lowest body temperature varied between individuals and between
species.

The body temperature of one black metaltail hummingbird fell to just 3.3C
which, they said, was not only a record for hummingbirds, and indeed all birds,
but was lower than the record for non-hibernating mammals. The previous
record for birds was 4.3C, reported for the common poorwill, the only species of
bird known to hibernate.

The time in torpor varied: the giant hummingbird spent on average 5.7 hours in
torpor at night, compared with 10.6 hours for the black metaltail. The longer
hummingbirds spent in torpor, the lower their loss of body mass.

McKechnie said further analysis showed that the differences in torpor between
the various species was, at least in part, rooted in evolution. “You have different
species using different [torpor] patterns, despite them all being in common
conditions at the same site, experiencing the same weather,” he said.