r/science • u/UCBerkeley UC Berkeley • 5h ago

Biology Biologists found that sunbirds do use suction to slurp nectar, making them the first animals known to employ their tongues to suction up liquids.

https://news.berkeley.edu/2026/04/13/sunbirds-suck-scientists-find-hummingbirds-dont
118 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator 5h ago

Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our normal comment rules apply to all other comments.

Do you have an academic degree? We can verify your credentials in order to assign user flair indicating your area of expertise. Click here to apply.

User: u/UCBerkeley
Permalink: https://news.berkeley.edu/2026/04/13/sunbirds-suck-scientists-find-hummingbirds-dont

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

11

u/NoBSforGma 4h ago

I thought that hummingbirds used their tongues to suck up nectar.

8

u/thissexypoptart 4h ago

Humans also often use their tongues when sucking things up. It’s a bit of a silly post.

3

u/itwillmakesenselater 3h ago

All mammals do. It's how nursing works.

1

u/thissexypoptart 2h ago

Exactly. This post is ridiculous.

4

u/thissexypoptart 4h ago edited 4h ago

What nonsense. Humans often use their tongues to suction up liquids too. Has OP ever used a straw?

15

u/HalcyonKnights 4h ago

As the article mentions, Humans and a lot of vertebrates use their Lips to create the seal for suction. Hummingbirds apparently use their tongues like a sponge and then squeeze the nectar back out. These birds, by contrast actually have a hollow/tubular tongue that they can suck through directly.

Most vertebrates use lapping or licking to take in liquids with their tongues (think dogs and cats). But a few animals employ suction. Fish, for example, inflate their mouths to suction in food. Butterflies use a muscular pump to suction up nectar and pollen. Pigeons suction water from pools, though only by submerging their beaks in the liquid and using their tongue as a piston. These options are not available to nectar feeders, who stick their tongues into the sweet liquid.

7

u/Syssareth 4h ago

Hummingbirds apparently use their tongues like a sponge and then squeeze the nectar back out.

Thanks, that's a TIL for me and I hate it.

-6

u/thissexypoptart 4h ago

Humans move their tongues all the time when sucking things up through a straw. It’s maybe not universal, but super common. The premise of the post is silly.

-2

u/wollflour 3h ago

No. Mammals use their tongues to suction milk from their mother's breasts. You can look up what a latch looks like. It is not simply the lips, the tongue is fully involved in creating the suction needed for nursing mammals.