[Pollinator] Hummingbird "sweet genes"

[Peter Bernhardt]

The following link will take you to a popular article on the evolution and
genetics of taste buds on a hummingbird's tongue.  The article insists that
most birds have lost the ability to taste the sweetness in foods.  I'm not
so sure I agree.  What about all those fruit eating species in so many
families as well as nectar drinking birds in the Meliphagidae,
Nectarinidae, Zosteropidae etc.?

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26089-hummingbirds-turned-savoury-into-sweet-to-taste-nectar.html#.U_diqFb5gTs
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/20140822/9964f170/attachment.html>