Featherbrain: The tiny hummingbird has a huge memory, scientists have discoveredThey may be tiny, but hummingbirds have a huge memory, researchers have found.
Their hippocampus – the area of the brain responsible for learning and memory – is up to five times bigger than that in songbirds, seabirds and woodpeckers.
This might explain why hummingbirds are such skilled foragers.
The birds can remember where every flower in their territory is and how long it takes to refill with nectar after they have fed.
Hummingbirds weigh only 0.7 ounces or less but are known to be extremely smart with a brain larger in comparison to body size than any other bird.
The birds can remember where every flower in their territory is and how long it takes to refill with nectar after they have fedThey also remember year to year where each feeder is, both at home and along a migration path.
Females have been observed watching older ones building a nest to learn some tricks and tips, and possibly steal some material.
And they learn which people are the ones responsible for filling hummingbird feeders, and which ones don’t.
By remembering their food source and the last time they visited it they can actually plan with some precision. This is known as episodic memory and was previously considered exclusive to humans.
Animal psychologist Dr Andrew Iwaniuk, of the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, said: 'Hummingbirds visit hundreds of flowers per day.
'In order to feed efficiently, they must remember what flowers they have visited, the locations of high nectar-rewarding flowers and a host of additional spatial-temporal information.
source: dailymail
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