What is there about a woodpecker's skull that prevents the bird from having a concussion

Question

Some birds ram their becks against the tree with such force that their brains surely are injured. Yet they survive with no apparent harm. Why?

Answer 1

because a woodpecker is all ready retarded... therefor it dosent even know it has a head ache... what other bird pecks on wood all day for a home....if it was a smart bird it would kill the r****d bird that is doing that and take his home

Answer 2

a mix of fluid and gas bubbles, create a form of a cushion, plus their bone is much less dense and thus more absorbant than humans

Answer 3

A special beak. They don't hit the tree with their head, only their beak.

Answer 4

Believe it or not. they do have "depth perception." <}:-})

Answer 5

Several adaptations combine to protect the woodpecker's brain from the substantial pounding that the pecking behaviour causes: it has a relatively thick skull with relatively spongy bone to cushion the brain; there is very little cerebrospinal fluid in its small subarachnoid space; the bird contracts mandibular muscles just before impact, thus transmitting the impact past the brain and allowing its whole body to help absorb the shock; its relatively small brain is less prone to concussion than other animals'. [1]

Answer 6

Are we talking about the same animals that perish on glass windows everywhere? I think there may in fact be some brain damage occurring!

Answer 7

Their skulls are made hard like a rock so they won't have those problems. :)

Answer 8

Several adaptations combine to protect the woodpecker's brain from the substantial pounding that the pecking behavior causes: it has a relatively thick skull with relatively spongy bone to cushion the brain; there is very little cerebrospinal fluid in its small sub arachnoid space; the bird contracts mandibular muscles just before impact, thus transmitting the impact past the brain and allowing its whole body to help absorb the shock; its relatively small brain is less prone to concussion than other animals'.

Some species have modified joints between bones in the skull and upper jaw, as well as muscles which contract to absorb the shock of the hammering. Strong neck and tail-feather muscles, and a chisel-like bill are other hammering adaptations which are seen in most species.

Answer 9

Firstly, woodpeckers have relatively small brains which, in contrast to a human, are packed fairly tightly inside their skull cavity. This prevents the excessive movement of the brain inside the skull, which causes so-called 'contre-coup' injuries in humans. These occur when the brain bashes into the skull following a knock on the head. In other words the head stops, but the brain keeps on moving momentarily afterwards.

Secondly, unlike a human brain the surface of which is thrown into ridges and folds known as gyri to enable more grey matter to be packed in, the woodpecker’s brain has a smooth surface and, through its small size, a high surface area to weight ratio. This means that the impact force is spread over a much larger area, relatively speaking, compared with a human. Again, this minimises the applied trauma. The bird’s brain is also bathed in relatively little cerebrospinal fluid, which also helps to reduce the transmission of the shock waves to the brain surface.

Finally, and possibly most importantly, the woodpecker also makes sure that he minimises any side to side movement of his head, and this is where May and his colleague’s fast film footage comes in.

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/a...

Answer 10

there massively long tongue that wraps around the brain protects it!

Answer 11

wow never thought of that i dont no