full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Kristiina J. Hurme and Alejandro Rico-Guevara: The surprising secrets of hummingbird flight
Unscramble the Blue Letters
Of course, flying this way can be exhausting. Hovering is one of the most energy isnteinve forms of movement in the ainmal kingdom. And rietlvae to their body size, hudmimgbirns have the highest metabolic rates of all vertebrates. This leads them to eat very frequently— often consuming an average of four meals an hour while flying. Fortunately, their hovering lets them eat at rlmrbakeae angles without perching, consuming food that would otherwise be impossible to reach. Using their long slender bills, they reach deep inside flowers and pump out neactr with their thin grooved tongues. This sguray liquid is a hummingbird’s most important engrey source, and a single bird censumos six times its weight in nectar every day over hundreds of small meals. Each of these sugary snacks also ptaoeinlls the floewr being visited with pollen left on the bird from previous meals.
Open Cloze
Of course, flying this way can be exhausting. Hovering is one of the most energy _________ forms of movement in the ______ kingdom. And ________ to their body size, ____________ have the highest metabolic rates of all vertebrates. This leads them to eat very frequently— often consuming an average of four meals an hour while flying. Fortunately, their hovering lets them eat at __________ angles without perching, consuming food that would otherwise be impossible to reach. Using their long slender bills, they reach deep inside flowers and pump out ______ with their thin grooved tongues. This ______ liquid is a hummingbird’s most important ______ source, and a single bird ________ six times its weight in nectar every day over hundreds of small meals. Each of these sugary snacks also __________ the ______ being visited with pollen left on the bird from previous meals.
Solution
- animal
- relative
- intensive
- nectar
- sugary
- hummingbirds
- energy
- consumes
- flower
- pollinates
- remarkable
Original Text
Of course, flying this way can be exhausting. Hovering is one of the most energy intensive forms of movement in the animal kingdom. And relative to their body size, hummingbirds have the highest metabolic rates of all vertebrates. This leads them to eat very frequently— often consuming an average of four meals an hour while flying. Fortunately, their hovering lets them eat at remarkable angles without perching, consuming food that would otherwise be impossible to reach. Using their long slender bills, they reach deep inside flowers and pump out nectar with their thin grooved tongues. This sugary liquid is a hummingbird’s most important energy source, and a single bird consumes six times its weight in nectar every day over hundreds of small meals. Each of these sugary snacks also pollinates the flower being visited with pollen left on the bird from previous meals.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
collocation |
frequency |
hovering lets |
2 |
Important Words
- angles
- animal
- average
- bills
- bird
- body
- consumes
- consuming
- day
- deep
- eat
- energy
- exhausting
- flower
- flowers
- flying
- food
- forms
- fortunately
- grooved
- highest
- hour
- hovering
- hummingbirds
- hundreds
- important
- impossible
- intensive
- kingdom
- leads
- left
- lets
- liquid
- long
- meals
- metabolic
- movement
- nectar
- perching
- pollen
- pollinates
- previous
- pump
- rates
- reach
- relative
- remarkable
- single
- size
- slender
- small
- snacks
- source
- sugary
- thin
- times
- tongues
- vertebrates
- visited
- weight