From Wikipedia:
“With the exception of insects, hummingbirds while in flight have the highest metabolism of all animals, a necessity in order to support the rapid beating of their wings. Their heart rate can reach as high as 1,260 beats per minute, a rate once measured in a Blue-throated Hummingbird. They also consume more than their own weight in nectar each day, and to do so they must visit hundreds of flowers daily. Hummingbirds are continuously hours away from starving to death, and are able to store just enough energy to survive overnight. ”
and :
“Hummingbirds have long lifespans for organisms with such rapid metabolisms. Though many die during their first year of life, especially in the vulnerable period between hatching and leaving the nest (fledging), those that survive may live a decade or more. Among the better-known North American species, the average lifespan is 3 to 5 years. By comparison, the smaller shrews, among the smallest of all mammals, seldom live more than 2 years.The longest recorded lifespan in the wild is that of a female Broad-tailed Hummingbird that was banded (ringed) as an adult at least one year old then recaptured 11 years later, making her at least 12 years old. Other longevity records for banded hummingbirds include an estimated minimum age of 10 years 1 month for a female Black-chinned similar in size to Broad-tailed, and at least 11 years 2 months for a much larger Buff-bellied Hummingbird. “
That’s apparently how they sleep, so save for the fluffed it sounds pretty accurate. As always, wonderful art and comic- can’t wait to get back to the plot and learn about what is going on with Charles!
Within this and many other comics Karl has done there exist subtly shown expressions from animals that portray emotion well without making the animal look too cartoonish or humanlike.
Thank you for the chuckle Karl, as well as the enouragement towards a bit of a laid-back perspective.
Hmm, the Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartbeat_hypothesis is unclear on the point, but I recall reading an Isaac Asimov essay, where he said that humans live for about 4 billion heartbeats as opposed to 1 billion for other mammals – actually, working on 70 beats per minute, and 1 billion seconds is about 31 years, a 70 year lifespan comes out at about 2.6 billion heartbeats.
Yeah, there were definitely conflicting averages in my (limited) research. Some say a billion heartbeats, others say two or even three billion. I went with one because it was cleaner and I figured a porcupine wouldn’t know the difference.
-karl
I loved a show thats since been canceled called Time Warp. They used high speed/slow motion cameras to capture all kinds of really cool things. The absolute best one though to me was when they hooked their slow motion camera up to an xray machine and watched a hummingbird in flight. Apparently there is a liquid sac that sits right on the back of a humming bird and their wing motion pumps that sac full of nectar. The scientist who had studied hummingbirds was floored when he saw that. He theorized that it both acted as a food reserve and helped them hover.
Most mammals live about a billion heartbeats. Humans live about twice that long.
There are reasons why we might have been selected for longevity: if you live a long time your grandchildren will get the benefit of cultural continuity during their growing years that their parents cannot give them (because they were children themselves when it happened to them, and are less likely to remember or interpret things in the same way as adults.)
These are species averages, though, not individual differences! So they don’t by any means imply that humans with fast heartbeats will live shorter lives than those with slower. That’s a different question entirely. The comic is still cute and funny, though!
August 10th, 2011 at 11:36 am
Just chill out man…
August 10th, 2011 at 11:38 am
His little sleeping pose is giving me life. XD
August 10th, 2011 at 11:42 am
…
…
… okay, yeah, I need to save my pennies for a print of this one.
August 10th, 2011 at 11:42 am
Sleep
There will still be work to do tomorrow
August 10th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
i’m about to do the very same. : ))) SO COMFY.
August 10th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
This just made me chortle. Love it. Thank you, Karl.
August 10th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
Somehow I don’t think that is how hummingbirds sleep, but then who’s ever seen one sleep?
August 10th, 2011 at 12:44 pm
From Wikipedia:
“With the exception of insects, hummingbirds while in flight have the highest metabolism of all animals, a necessity in order to support the rapid beating of their wings. Their heart rate can reach as high as 1,260 beats per minute, a rate once measured in a Blue-throated Hummingbird. They also consume more than their own weight in nectar each day, and to do so they must visit hundreds of flowers daily. Hummingbirds are continuously hours away from starving to death, and are able to store just enough energy to survive overnight. ”
and :
“Hummingbirds have long lifespans for organisms with such rapid metabolisms. Though many die during their first year of life, especially in the vulnerable period between hatching and leaving the nest (fledging), those that survive may live a decade or more. Among the better-known North American species, the average lifespan is 3 to 5 years. By comparison, the smaller shrews, among the smallest of all mammals, seldom live more than 2 years.The longest recorded lifespan in the wild is that of a female Broad-tailed Hummingbird that was banded (ringed) as an adult at least one year old then recaptured 11 years later, making her at least 12 years old. Other longevity records for banded hummingbirds include an estimated minimum age of 10 years 1 month for a female Black-chinned similar in size to Broad-tailed, and at least 11 years 2 months for a much larger Buff-bellied Hummingbird. “
August 10th, 2011 at 6:00 pm
I’ve been inspired to do likewise.
And thanks for the info, Donna!
August 10th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
http://www.kgbanswers.com/do-hummingbirds-ever-rest-or-sleep/20515621
That’s apparently how they sleep, so save for the fluffed it sounds pretty accurate. As always, wonderful art and comic- can’t wait to get back to the plot and learn about what is going on with Charles!
August 10th, 2011 at 9:05 pm
Luckily for the hummingbird, that generalization really just applies to mammals.
August 10th, 2011 at 10:59 pm
Within this and many other comics Karl has done there exist subtly shown expressions from animals that portray emotion well without making the animal look too cartoonish or humanlike.
Thank you for the chuckle Karl, as well as the enouragement towards a bit of a laid-back perspective.
August 11th, 2011 at 7:54 am
Hmm, the Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartbeat_hypothesis is unclear on the point, but I recall reading an Isaac Asimov essay, where he said that humans live for about 4 billion heartbeats as opposed to 1 billion for other mammals – actually, working on 70 beats per minute, and 1 billion seconds is about 31 years, a 70 year lifespan comes out at about 2.6 billion heartbeats.
August 11th, 2011 at 9:49 am
Sad hummingbird is sad.
August 11th, 2011 at 11:38 am
Yeah, there were definitely conflicting averages in my (limited) research. Some say a billion heartbeats, others say two or even three billion. I went with one because it was cleaner and I figured a porcupine wouldn’t know the difference.
-karl
August 11th, 2011 at 4:07 pm
I loved a show thats since been canceled called Time Warp. They used high speed/slow motion cameras to capture all kinds of really cool things. The absolute best one though to me was when they hooked their slow motion camera up to an xray machine and watched a hummingbird in flight. Apparently there is a liquid sac that sits right on the back of a humming bird and their wing motion pumps that sac full of nectar. The scientist who had studied hummingbirds was floored when he saw that. He theorized that it both acted as a food reserve and helped them hover.
August 11th, 2011 at 4:15 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4NiJwjodtI
Thats the link to the video I talked about above
August 11th, 2011 at 4:20 pm
LOL did some quick math at at 1260 beats a minute and 5 year lifespan their little ole ticke does a whopping 3,574,080,000 beats in their life.
August 11th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Do you people hit wikipedia every single time you hear or see a joke?
August 12th, 2011 at 10:08 am
>Do you people hit wikipedia every single time you hear or see a joke?
I think that’s just me !
August 13th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
The data here make the phenomenon pretty clear:
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/longevity.htm
Most mammals live about a billion heartbeats. Humans live about twice that long.
There are reasons why we might have been selected for longevity: if you live a long time your grandchildren will get the benefit of cultural continuity during their growing years that their parents cannot give them (because they were children themselves when it happened to them, and are less likely to remember or interpret things in the same way as adults.)
These are species averages, though, not individual differences! So they don’t by any means imply that humans with fast heartbeats will live shorter lives than those with slower. That’s a different question entirely. The comic is still cute and funny, though!