Not a hummingbird, but a moth!
Commonly mistaken for Hummingbirds, these moths are pretty cool too - and they teach us a lot about nature!
I know this is a blog about birds, but while doing research about Hummingbirds, I stumbled upon this awesome creature: the Hummingbird Hawk-moth. They’re so cool, they have THREE animals in their common name! Hummingbird, hawk, and moth!
This is a species of Hawk-moth found across temperate regions of Eurasia, and the species is named for its similarity to hummingbirds. Just like Hummingbirds, these guys feed on the nectar of tube-shaped flowers using their long proboscis while hovering in the air and making a sort of humming noise.
This resemblance is an example of convergent evolution, which is one of my favourite topics in nature ever!
Let’s start with learning about convergent evolution
What is it?
In a nutshell, convergent evolution is when two different animals evolved similar traits to adapt to similar problems.
For example, sharks and dolphins are not related at all - in fact, a shark is a fish, while a dolphin is a mammal. Yet the two animals are roughly the same size, shape, and colour. They also occupy the same role in the ecosystem: as apex predators of the ocean.
The niche: be apex predators of the ocean
The need: be fast and powerful enough to catch lots of fish
The traits: a sleek, streamlined body. Sturdy dorsal fins to cut through water. Powerful pectoral fins and tails to propel their bodies forward
Thus, although these two animals came from very different ancestors, they’ve evolved to have similar traits, in order to fulfil similar needs.
When used to describe two lines, the word ‘converge’ refers to the point when the two lines meet (even if they started from very different points).
Convergent evolution happens because animals have adapted similar traits, for similar necessities. Both the Hummingbird (the actual bird) and the Hummingbird Hawk-moth are small, nectar-loving flying creatures, and so they have evolved to be roughly the same size, with similar beak/ proboscis lengths to pick at flowers, and similar behaviours!
In fact, just like Hummingbirds, these moth don’t ‘flap’ their wings in order to fly. Instead, they engages in free hovering flight, which allows more maneuverability and control than fixed-wing flight - despite high energetic cost. But, like the Hummingbird, the moths are able to pay for the energy cost because their diet is pretty much all sugar!
Instead of a beak like a hummingbird, these moths have a long tongue-like proboscis that rolls out of its coiled tube to reach the nectar deep inside flowers. Its tongue is about double the length of the moth’s body.
The Hummingbird Hawk-moth also have amazing eyesight!
Just like birds (and many other animals, including apes and us humans) the Hummingbird Hawk-moth have evolved to have good colour vision, and pretty amazing eyesight.
The ability to discern between colours is actually pretty important among certain species - but it is not an ability that every animal in the world has evolved to have!
Generally, the ability to discern colour is important for animals that ‘gather’ food. The gatherers need to be able to tell the difference between a, say, poisonous red berry, and an edible blueberry. In this way, colour vision is a trait that makes the difference between a life-and-death choice.
Less crucially but still important, we also need to be able to tell the difference between a soft and light green leaf that is easier to chew and digest, versus a tough and old dark green leaf that’s going to be gross and yucky.
Many birds, butterflies and other animals that feed on plants have also grown to have amazing colour vision. In fact, many birds can see ‘more’ colours than humans can!
Scientists have studied the visual abilities of the Hummingbird Hawk-moth and found that have a trichromatic visual system. That’s the same as us humans: most people can match any given reference color by combining the three primary colors. The three primary colors for additive color mixtures are red, green, and blue.
Here’s a random fun fact about the moth, which horror-movie lovers may appreciate:
The moths were featured in the 1991 film, The Silence of the Lambs! According to IMDb, the moths were treated like celebrities. “They were flown first class… and had special living quarters.”
I said in the beginning that the Hummingbird Hawk-moth is cool, and that they teach us a lot about nature. I hope you enjoyed learning about convergent evolution, the importance to colour vision, and why moths should be flown first class!!
Coolest moth ever! I never would have guessed there was a moth that was so much like a hummingbird. The part about how long their tongues are still a crazy!