Sunbirds use suction for nectar feeding / Curr. Biol., March 27, 2026 (Vol. 36, Issue 8)

Sunbirds share convergent morphology, behavior, and ecological niche with other nectar-feeding birds—especially with hummingbirds. However, sunbirds have evolved a feeding mechanism found nowhere else in vertebrates: intralingual suction. By generating low pressures in their mouth, they can use their tongues like straws to suck nectar out of the flowers they forage from. Check out the paper at http://www.cell.com/current-biology/f.... D. Cuban, C.Y. Wang-Claypool, Y. Yohanna, C.T. Downs, R.C.K. Bowie, F. Brau, S.D. Johnson, and A. Rico-Guevara (2026). Divergent nectar-feeding mechanisms evidenced by intralingual suction in sunbirds. Curr. Biol. 36. And read more great research at http://www.cell.com/current-biology/home.