01

Hummingbird

The only bird that can fly backward is the hummingbird. Hummingbirds are able to hover in the air by beating their wings rapidly (15 to 80 times per second, depending on the size of the hummingbird), and they can fly left, right, and backward.

The only bird that can fly backward is the hummingbird. Hummingbirds belong to the family Swiftidae. They are very small and one of the smallest birds in the world. They are named after the buzzing sound they make by flapping their wings. Hummingbirds are able to hover in the air by beating their wings rapidly (15 to 80 times per second, depending on the size of the hummingbird), and they can fly left, right, and backward.

The feathers of hummingbirds are generally blue or green, with lighter underparts. Some male birds have crests or slender tail feathers. Among male birds, most are blue-green, while some are purple, red or yellow. The body feathers of the female bird are duller. There are two subfamilies of the hummingbird family, the Cryptopodinae and the Hummingbird subfamilies. Cryptohummingbirds are generally brown, gray, and red in color, with no iridescent coloration. The hummingbird subfamily has iridescent feathers in metallic red, orange, blue, and green colors. The iridescence is mainly concentrated on the head, upper body and lower body of the male bird. Some male birds also have beautiful feathers such as distinctive throat spots, crests, and slender tail feathers.

The hummingbird is too small to easily preserve its skeleton as a fossil, and its evolutionary history remains a mystery. Hummingbirds mostly live in Central and South America. Fossils of hummingbirds dating back 1 million years have been found in South America, so scientists believe that hummingbirds originated from the Pleistocene. However, scientists in southern Germany have discovered the oldest hummingbird fossil in the world, which is more than 30 million years old. It can be seen that the ancestors of hummingbirds have appeared as far back as the Oligocene Epoch.