Bee hummingbird vs Honey bee
Bee hummingbird (57 mm) is 4.38× the size of honey bee (13 mm).
4 honey bees stacked on end would reach the height of bee hummingbird. The gap between them is 44 mm (0.14 ft).
The comparison in numbers
| Thing | Size | In feet | Measured as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bee hummingbird | 57 mm | 0.19 ft | length |
| Honey bee | 13 mm | 0.04 ft | length |
What the scale shows
Bee hummingbird (57 mm) is 4.38× the size of honey bee (13 mm). The gap between them is 44 mm (0.14 ft). Both are animals, so the figures describe the same kind of thing.
Draw both on one baseline and the smaller one fills 23% of the frame while the larger one runs to the top. The two are close enough that the difference is easy to see side by side.
Read the rest — 8 more sections
What each figure means
The figure for bee hummingbird is its length (an adult, the smallest bird). The figure for honey bee is its length (a worker).
Crossing them
Walking pace is 1.4 m/s, so crossing bee hummingbird's 57 mm takes 41 milliseconds and honey bee's 13 mm takes 9 milliseconds.
In people: bee hummingbird is 0 adults of 1.7 m tall, honey bee is 0.01. By size bee hummingbird is 22nd of the 23 animals on this site and honey bee is 23rd, so 1 place separates them in the ranking.
How to read these two figures
Before trusting any comparison, check what each number measures. The bee hummingbird is given as a length, an adult, the smallest bird. The honey bee is given as a length, a worker. Both are length figures, so putting them on one baseline is a like-for-like comparison, although the exact individual or convention still matters.
Animal sizes vary from one individual to the next, so each figure says which individual or average it describes. Heights are taken at the shoulder or standing; lengths run nose to tail tip unless stated.
Where the pair sits among all the sizes here
Across all 86 things on this site, the bee hummingbird is number 85 from the top and the honey bee is number 86. No other item falls between them, so in this collection they are direct neighbours.
Because the collection spans 13 mm up to 1,392,700 km, a ratio of 107,130,769,231× from smallest to largest, the position of a pair says a lot: both sit in the lower third of the list.
What the length ratio hides
A length ratio of 4.38× is easy to picture, but area and volume grow faster than length. If two objects had exactly the same shape, the bee hummingbird would have about 19.2× the surface or footprint of the honey bee, and about 84.3× the volume. For animals volume tracks weight, which is why a long animal is far heavier than its length suggests, and why a small animal cannot simply be a scaled-down copy of a large one.
The drawing above shows length only. The honey bee is drawn 23% as tall as the bee hummingbird, but the equivalent share of footprint would be only 5.2%, which is why the smaller one looks even slighter than the numbers alone suggest.
Time to cross each one
A sprinter holding about 10 m/s covers the bee hummingbird in 6 milliseconds and the honey bee in 1 milliseconds. Sound, at about 343 m/s in air, takes 166 microseconds for the larger and 38 microseconds for the smaller. A jet cruising at 900 km/h needs 228 microseconds and 52 microseconds.
These times assume a straight line and constant speed, which no real crossing has, but they turn a number in metres into something the body understands. At any fixed speed the travel times keep the same 4.38× ratio as the sizes.
The same figures in other units
The bee hummingbird measures 57 mm, which is 0.19 ft. The honey bee measures 13 mm, which is 0.04 ft or 0.5 inches.
The difference between them is 44 mm (0.14 ft). In metres the smaller one is 0.01 against 0.06, so the 4.38× ratio holds in every unit; only the numbers on the ruler change.
Questions people ask about this pair
Which is bigger, the bee hummingbird or the honey bee?
The bee hummingbird is bigger. At 57 mm it is 4.38× the size of the honey bee, which is 13 mm.
How many times does the honey bee fit along the bee hummingbird?
4 whole times, with 5 mm left over, using 13 mm for each.
Are the two figures measured the same way?
Yes in kind: both are length figures. The bee hummingbird is an adult, the smallest bird; the honey bee is a worker.
How does the gap look in people?
Taking an adult of 1.7 m, the bee hummingbird is about 0 people tall and the honey bee is about 0.01. The gap of 44 mm is 0 people.
Where do the numbers come from?
Each item has its own page that names the measurement and links to the Wikipedia article it was taken from. Some figures are rounded, and animals vary from one individual to the next, so treat them as representative values rather than records for every case.
How the sizes are taken. Each figure says what it measures — height, length, diameter or elevation — and for which individual or convention. Everything is drawn standing upright on one baseline so a single scale holds, including things that are long rather than tall. Values come from the linked Wikipedia article for each item.