Editing Hummingbird (section)

=== Tongue as a micropump ===
[[File:PSM V05 D295 Hummingbird tongue.jpg|thumb|Drawing of a hummingbird tongue; 1874, unknown artist. Upon reaching nectar in a flower, the tongue splits into opposing tips fringed with [[Lamella (cell biology)|lamellae]] and grooves, which fill with nectar, then retracts to a cylindrical configuration into the bill to complete the drink.<ref name=rico/><ref name=frank/>]]

Hummingbirds drink with their long tongues by rapidly lapping nectar. Their tongues have [[Semicircle|semicircular]] tubes which run down their lengths to facilitate nectar consumption via rapid pumping in and out of the nectar.<ref name="rico">{{Cite journal |last1=Rico-Guevara |first1=Alejandro |last2=Fan |first2=Tai-Hsi |last3=Rubega |first3=Margaret A. |date=2015-08-22 |title=Hummingbird tongues are elastic micropumps |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |volume=282 |issue=1813 |pages=20151014 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2015.1014 |issn=0962-8452 |pmc=4632618 |pmid=26290074}}</ref><ref name="frank">{{Cite news |last1=Frank |first1=David |last2=Gorman |first2=James |date=2015-09-08 |title=ScienceTake {{!}} The hummingbird's tongue |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/video/science/100000003892113/the-hummingbirds-tongue.html |access-date=2015-09-10 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> While capillary action was believed to be what drew nectar into these tubes,<ref name=kim/> high-speed photography revealed that the tubes open down their sides as the tongue goes into the nectar, and then close around the nectar, trapping it so it can be pulled back into the beak over a period of 14 [[millisecond]]s per lick at a rate of up to 20 licks per second.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rico-Guevara |first1=A. |last2=Rubega |first2=M.A. |year=2011 |title=The hummingbird tongue is a fluid trap, not a capillary tube |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=108 |issue=23 |pages=9356–360 |bibcode=2011PNAS..108.9356R |doi=10.1073/pnas.1016944108 |pmc=3111265 |pmid=21536916 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="cade1">{{Cite web |last=Mosher|first=D. |date=2 May 2011 |title=High-speed video shows how hummingbirds really drink |url=https://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/05/hummingbird-tongue-drinking |access-date=13 August 2022 |publisher=Wired}}</ref> The tongue, which is forked, is compressed until it reaches nectar, then the tongue springs open, the rapid action traps the nectar which moves up the grooves, like a [[pump]] action, with [[capillary action]] not involved.<ref name="rico"/><ref name=frank/><ref name=cade1/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Gorman |first=James |date=2015-09-08 |title=The hummingbird's tongue: How it works |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/08/science/the-hummingbirds-tongue-how-it-works.html |access-date=2015-09-10 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Consequently, tongue flexibility enables accessing, transporting and unloading nectar via pump action,<ref name="rico"/><ref name=frank/> not by a capillary [[syphon]] as once believed.<ref name="kim">{{Cite journal |last1=Kim |first1=W. |last2=Peaudecerf |first2=F. |last3=Baldwin |first3=M.W. |last4=Bush |first4=J.W. |year=2012 |title=The hummingbird's tongue: A self-assembling capillary syphon |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=279 |issue=1749 |pages=4990–996 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2012.1837 |pmc=3497234 |pmid=23075839}}</ref>

[[File:Ruby-Throated Hummingbird.png|thumb|upright|Male [[ruby-throated hummingbird]] (''Archilochus colubris'') with tongue extended]]