Marvelous Spatuletail
Marvellous Spatuletail
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| オナガラケットハチドリ | |||
| Character Data | |||
| Romaji | Onagarakettohachidori
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| Debut | Kemono Friends (2015 Game) | ||
| Animal Data | |||
| Scientific Name | Loddigesia mirabilis
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| Distribution | Peru
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| Diet | Omnivore
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| Avg. Lifespan | ?
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| Read More | Marvellous spatuletail
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| Conservation | 
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| Marvelous Spatuletail | Nexon Game |
Marvellous Spatuletail is a type of Friend that appeared in the original Kemono Friends mobile game.
Series Appearances
| Media | Role | |
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In Real Life
The Marvellous Spatuletail (Loddigesia mirabilis) is one of the world's rarest hummingbirds that only occurs in the remote Utcubamba Valley in northern Peru.
The Marvellous Spatuletail is restricted to the eastern slopes of the Rio Utcubamba Valley (an affluent on the right bank of the río Marañón) in the Cordillera del Colán, Amazonas, and one site in San Martîn, northern Peru at an elevation of 7000 ft (2100-2900m) (Birdlife International 2000).
On the slopes above the río Utcubamba, it has been found north and south-east of Leimebamba, the Chachapoyas area and the town of Florida, on the shore of Lago Pomacochas. In recent history, the only place where this hummingbird can be found is near Florida, where it occurs in low densities and may only be seasonally present. Its numbers are continuing to decline.
There is an isolated record of a male having been seen near Jesús del Monte, San Martín, in 1987. Other unconfirmed records placed this bird near Tingo, Utcubamba and Leimebamba.
Those ornithologists who were able to locate this species agreed with Ted Parker's observations in the 1970s and 1980s that full-tailed males were outnumbered by females and immatures by a ratio of more than 5 to 1 (Hecht 2001). This may be explained by the fact, that the males are hunted and killed for the perceived aphrodisiac properties of their hearts and their long tails.
This shy Spatuletail is typically found along the forest edge and isolated woodlots on steep slopes. They favor the thorny, impenetrable Rubus thickets admixed with Alnus trees.
Males use their spatules (= flat disks at the end of their tails) to display at leks to females (leks are gatherings of males for the purposes of competitive mating display). During this mating display, the males make snapping sounds - which originally was thought to be generated by their long spatule disks clapping together. However, it was found that even though the spatules wobble very closely together, the noise was actually coming from its mouth.
During this display, the males will dance with a twig at super high speed, hopping over and over, backwards and forwards, across the twig mid-air. He is described to do so about 14 times in 7 seconds. As part of this display, the male hovers in front of the female while furiously waving his spatules about.
The female is responsible for building the cup-shaped nest out of plant fibers woven together and green moss on the outside for camouflage in a protected location in a shrub, bush or tree. She lines the nest with soft plant fibers, animal hair and feather down, and strengthens the structure with spider webbing and other sticky material, giving it an elastic quality to allow it to stretch to double its size as the chicks grow and need more room. The nest is typically found on a low, thin horizontal branch.
The average clutch consists of two white eggs, which she incubates alone, while the male defends his territory and the flowers he feeds on. The young are born blind, immobile and without any down.
The female alone protects and feeds the chicks with regurgitated food (mostly partially-digested insects since nectar is an insufficient source of protein for the growing chicks). The female pushes the food down the chicks' throats with her long bill directly into their stomachs.
As is the case with other hummingbird species, the chicks are brooded only the first week or two, and left alone even on cooler nights after about 12 days - probably due to the small nest size. The chicks leave the nest when they are about 7 - 10 days old.
The Marvellous Spatuletails primarily feed on nectar taken from a variety of brightly colored, scented small flowers of trees, herbs, shrubs and epiphytes. They particularly seek out the red-flowered lily Alstroemeria (Bomarea) formosissima as well as flowers of the "mupa mupa" trees.
They use their long, extendible, straw-like tongues to retrieve the nectar while hovering with their tails cocked upward as they are licking at the nectar up to 13 times per second. Sometimes they may be seen hanging on the flower while feeding.
Many native and cultivated plants on whose flowers these birds feed heavily rely on them for pollination. The mostly tubular-shaped flowers actually exclude most bees and butterflies from feeding on them and, subsequently, from pollinating the plants.
At their feeding plants, this fairly small species is dominated by more aggressive birds, such as sylphs, train-bearers, and violetears.
They also take some small spiders and insects - important sources of protein particularly needed during the breeding season to ensure the proper development of their young. Insects are often caught in flight (hawking); snatched off leaves or branches, or are taken from spider webs. A nesting female can capture up to 2,000 insects a day.
Males establish feeding territories, where they aggressively chase away other males as well as large insects - such as bumblebees and hawk moths - that want to feed in their territory. They use aerial flights and intimidating displays to defend their territories.
Trivia
- This hummingbird was first reported in 1835 by the bird collector Andrew Matthews who worked for George Loddiges. He collected the skin of a male that became the basis for John Gould's famous monograph featuring this bird -- a portion of which artwork is shown at right.