Hummingbirds can drop their body temperature below 4°C when they rest

By Christa Lesté-Lasserre

A sparkling violetear (Colibri coruscans) flying and feeding at a flower in the Amazon in Peru

All Canada Photos / Alamy

Hummingbirds can enter a hibernation-like state at night, dropping their body temperature to under 4°C in an effort to preserve energy for use during the day.

The birds are one of a few species, including night hawks and some small rodents, that are capable of torpor, in which body function reduces to a bare minimum for a few hours, says Blair Wolf at the University of New Mexico.

Previous studies have found that hummingbirds can drop their body …