【推荐1】In many places, people build roads through animals’ habitats (栖息地). All day long, cars and trucks pass by. The animals can’t always stay away from the road. They may need to cross it to get their food and water. The road is dangerous. If a car hits an animal, the animal would be badly hurt or even killed. The people in the car would get hurt, too. Animals need a way to get around their habitat without having to walk across the road. But how?

Some people have thought of a solution (方法). They build wildlife corridors (走廊) that let animals cross roads safely. Some wildlife corridors are bridges that go over roads. People plant trees and grass on these bridges so they look like the natural habitat. Other wildlife corridors are tunnels (隧道) that go under the roads. Animals can look through them and see the habitat on the other side.

Different animals like to use different kinds of corridors. Some animals, such as moose and deer, like open spaces. They like bridge corridors better. Other animals, like black bears, like the tunnel corridors.

Wildlife corridors help animals get around their habitats to find food. They also keep people from getting into dangerous accidents. They are a great way for animals and people to live in the same area safely.

What is two inches tall, can hang in mid-air, and flies in every direction including backwards? It’s not an insect. The answer is the bee hummingbird.

Most hummingbirds are about three to five inches long. But the bee hummingbird is only five centimeters, or about two inches, making it the smallest species of bird alive today. Really it isn’t bigger than a large insect. But don’t let its tiny body fool you. This bird is a strong flier. It can beat its wings up to 80 times per second. If you ever see one in flight, you’ll notice its wings are just a blur to the human eye. Hummingbirds are also the only vertebrates (脊椎动物) that can hover in one place. Add to that being able to fly backwards and upside down, and these creatures are amazing flying machines.

And being a master flier isn’t the only one of the bee hummingbird’s talents. The bee hummingbird does a great job performing its part in plant reproduction (繁衍). During the course of a single day, the bee hummingbird can visit up to 1,500 flowers. And just like a bee, when the bee hummingbird drinks nectar from the flowers, pollen (花粉) is moved from the flower to the bird’s body. This pollen is carried to the next flower. Moving pollen from one flower to another helps plants make seeds.

Besides drinking nectar, bee hummingbirds eat insects. In fact, they eat about half their body weight each day. But what’s more impressive is that they drink eight times their body weight every day. This is why they live in areas where there are gardens and forests. These tiny birds are found mainly in Cuba, but some have been seen in Jamaica and Haiti as well.

Except for its size, there’s no doubt that the bee hummingbird is a powerful flier.