In terms of body lengths per second, a diving hummingbird flies faster than a fighter jet, says researcher from the University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A. Christopher Clark filmed the courtship rituals of male Anna’s hummingbirds and calculated that when swooping to impress females, “the feathered acrobats reached speeds of almost 400 body lengths per second.” Such a speed is comparatively “greater than [that] of a fighter jet” at full throttle, says Clack. When pulling up at the end of its dive, the bird is subject to a force ten times the pull of gravity-more than fighter pilots can stand without losing consciousness.
