Uploaded September 2012 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago

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An Anna's hummingbird hovers in the still air of an inactive wind tunnel and sips sucrose from a syringe. Motion is slowed by a factor of 50.

Read the full story at: discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/watch-this-hummingbirds-fly-forwards-and-backwards-with-equal-ease

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Credit: Nir Sapir & Robert Dudley. 2012. Backward flight in hummingbirds employs unique kinematic adjustments and entails low metabolic cost. Journal of Experimental Biology. 215:3603-3611. doi: 10.1242/jeb.073114

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