Pink + pink = gold? Hybrid hummingbird's feathers don't match those of its parents
Published Date: 3/1/2023
Source: phys.org
The pink-throated brilliant hummingbird, Heliodoxa gularis, has, unsurprisingly, a brilliant pink throat. So does its cousin, the rufous-webbed brilliant hummingbird, Heliodoxa branickii. When scientists found a Heliodoxa hummingbird with a glittering gold throat, they thought they might have found a new species. However, DNA revealed a different story: The gold-throated bird was a never-before-documented hybrid of the two pink-throated species.