Consider the Earth for a few moments. It is a vast planet with tall mountains, large oceans and impenetrable rainforests just to name a few habitats. Animals here vary wildly in size and it appears there is nothing in common between species. It is almost impossible to find similarities between a hummingbird, a blue whale, and a human. Despite these massive differences, Brian Doyle, the author of “Joyas Volardores” shows that all animals have a unifying, metaphoric factor, which is possession of a heart.

The heart of a hummingbird, despite being weak and tiny, nonetheless supports the hummingbird. In the frame of one day, the fragile hummingbird, “visits a thousand flowers” (Doyle 95). The animal is also known for endurance as it can fly “five hundred miles without [stopping for a] rest” (Doyle 95). However, this hard work comes at a cost. The hummingbird has a difficult and short life. It is desperate for every last gulp of air. The heart must beat at a fast rate to catch up to the busy life of a hummingbird. It also must adjust to small changes in the climate, which while non-lethal to other animals, can potentially kill a hummingbird. Furthermore, the hummingbird suffers more heart attacks than any other animal due to this fast heart rate. Thus, the hummingbird, with a heart “the size of a pencil eraser”, is given only two years to live (Doyle 95). However, the hummingbird makes every heartbeat count. Not a single beat goes to waste when it finds flowers and flies in the sky. The hummingbird, like any other animal, has a heart and a heartbeat. In fact, all three hundred species of hummingbirds have hearts that beat (Doyle 94). The fragile nature of the hummingbird does not mean the loss of a heart. To Doyle, the hummingbird and its heart are weak, desperate and fragile. While the heart of hummingbird is microscopic, fragile, and fast, the heart of another animal is the polar opposite.

The gigantic heart of a blue whale would make the hummingbird and its feeble, fast beating heart appear like it is from another galaxy. Even the habitat of the animal and its heart is different than a hummingbird. While a hummingbird has a microscopic heart, the blue whale has a heart that is the size of a room (Doyle 95). Even the valves are larger than the entire heart of a hummingbird, which Doyle describes as “the size of swinging doors in a saloon” (95). While Doyle did not provide information about the rate of which a whale’s heart beats at, it is implied that the speed is drastically slower than that of a hummingbird. It is also implied that the heart of a blue whale is far stronger than a hummingbird, due to the massive size and weight difference. However, despite the large size, one will see that the blue whale does not do that much. It does swim in pairs and make some moaning noises with its tongue, but that is all that is known about the activities of the blue whale (Doyle 96). It appears to be not as active as the hummingbird. This inactivity with a slower heart, however, means the blue whale does not even reach adulthood until it has lived through roughly the equivalent of four hummingbird lives, or eight years. It is given much longer to live and its weakness in its heart is not known. A change in temperature, for instance, would not affect a blue whale as much as a hummingbird. Despite the massive difference in animal size, heart size and absence of a weakness compared to a hummingbird, both animals still share a vital feature: a living and beating heart. There is one more animal that ties the unity all together and this one hits closer to home. In fact, unless one lives under a cave, one sees this species every day.

Human hearts continue to follow the theme of unity among animals. While the heart of a whale is the size of a room, the human heart is commonly known to be about the size of a fist. However, it is still one lonely beating heart (Doyle 96). It is almost ironic that while many, if not most, animals typically live and travel in groups, the heart is by itself (Doyle 96). While the lifespan of a human varies depending on climate, diet, and exercise to name a few, humans still live at least thirty times longer than a hummingbird. However, the human heart shares a general characteristic with the heart of a hummingbird. Both have a critical weakness, but that weakness is vastly different. For humans, the heart is sensitive to emotions. Doyle states that despite how strong the heart is; it comes crashing down “in an instant” (96). The heart can be fortified, tight, and cold, but it does not remain that way. It also does not take much for the emotional tearing to happen. Some simple words or even a vision, such as an injured cat “dragging itself […] to die” can trigger the emotional bruises of a human heart (Doyle 96). The tearing can also happen with a positive thought, such as “your father making […] pancakes for [you]” (Doyle 96). The emotional scarring can change the rate of a heartbeat. From personal experience, positive emotions, such as happiness and anger tend to speed up a heart, while negative emotions, such as sadness and depression slow it down. Nonetheless, the rate of a human heart will never reach the fast rate of a hummingbird or the slow rate of a blue whale heart. The human heart is, however, a medium or Goldilocks zone in terms of speed. Since hummingbirds have to battle it out for pockets of air, that would speed up their heart. As for blue whales, the air is plentiful. All a blue whale has to do is surface to get more air. Hence, the heart of a blue whale is slower. However, the unity is still there, even if other animals do not appear to have a wide range of emotions like humanity. Humans, like the minute hummingbird and the gigantic whale, have a heart that beats. In fact, the three animals that Doyle brought up are mammals that have “hearts with four chambers” (96). However, even animals with fewer chambers, such as fish and reptiles, still have a heart. Doyle also mentions simple unicellular organisms, that do not have a heart, but instead have “interior liquid motion”, which is the basic functional equivalent of a heart (96). Without a beating heart or an organ like a heart, loud moaning, visiting flowers, emotions, and, most importantly, life on Earth would be impossible.

The Earth is a complicated planet with its multitudes of species and environments, but there is a common denominator. That denominator is a real, beating, and vital heart. The habitat, the size, the lifespan, and the intelligence of a species are not factors to determine whether an animal has a heart. All animals have legitimate, working hearts by simply existing. While it could be argued that every animal is unique, Doyle shows the true unity in animals through the hearts of hummingbirds, blue whales and humans.
