[Pollinator] Hummingbird "sweet genes"

Peter Bernhardt bernhap2 at slu.edu
Fri Aug 22 08:43:07 PDT 2014


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
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