David Attenborough Presents: Hummingbirds - Jewelled Messengers

This is the story of how hummingbirds became the ultimate creatures of the air.

Hummingbirds live at the limits of what is possible. They have the highest metabolism – with a heart rate of 1,200 beats per minute – of any vertebrate. Their wings beat 50 times a second. They can hover on the spot, and even fly backwards. To our eyes, they are just a blur. But with the aid of high-speed cameras we can slow down their hyperactive lives and look into their secret world.

It is a world of great beauty, full of colour and balletic flight. They are the most remarkable creatures to ever grace our planet. This film, with never-seen-before sequences, reveals them in a new light.