Hummingbirds have long been known for their athletic prowess due to their ability to flawlessly weave in and out of flower fields, and now researchers from the University of Montana have combined high-speed filming and computer simulations to show the bird's ability to use its wings to take control of the air surrounding it to help it fly, according to Science News.
In the video below, viewers can see small air pockets swirl in miniature tornado-like vortices as the hummingbird makes a right turn. Although researchers already knew that hummingbirds induce lift by generating small vortices, which are the thick blue layers around the wings in the video, the simulations show that the movement is even more complex than originally believed.
The video was made using data from the lab of University of Montana biologist Bret Tobalske, who captures birds in flight at 1,000 frames a second, allowing him to analyze the use of vortices in bird flight.
Analyses of the findings found that more than 77.5 percent of the hummingbird's flight lift is created during its down stroke, with less than 22.5 percent created during its upstrokes, according to the Daily Mail. Furthermore, the simulation also revealed that the inside of its wings is responsible for creating the majority of the forces during both the down and up strokes.
The findings were presented at the 68th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics.
