Woodpeckers pound trees thousands of times a day. They use their heads like a kind of hammer when pecking. How can the brains of the birds withstand this without suffering damage? In any case, their skulls don’t work like shock-absorbing helmets, a team of researchers finds out.
Woodpeckers hammer against tree trunks at up to seven meters per second – that’s like banging your head against a wall at 25 kilometers per hour. The birds do this up to 20 times a second, about 12,000 times a day. Actually, woodpeckers should have a concussion all the time. How do you stand it?
According to a study, the skulls of woodpeckers act like massive hammers when pecking. According to the research team in the journal “Current Biology”, they refute the assumption that woodpecker skulls work like shock-absorbing helmets, as reported by the University of Antwerp. According to the information, the scientists analyzed more than 100 high-speed videos of black woodpeckers, helmeted woodpeckers and great spotted woodpeckers.
Their calculations showed that the woodpeckers’ heads would not have a shock-absorbing effect when pecking, and that this would actually hinder them. “Their heads basically act as stiff, massive hammers when they peck,” said the study’s lead author, Sam Van Wassenbergh, of the University of Antwerp.
But then, doesn’t it damage the brains of woodpeckers when they smash trees with their beaks with great force? The research team, which includes German scientist Christine Böhmer from the University of Kiel, discovered no danger to the woodpeckers’ brains. According to Van Wassenbergh, even the strongest of the analyzed shocks put less strain on the woodpeckers’ brains than those found in people with a concussion.
According to the researchers, their results could also explain why there are no woodpeckers with significantly larger heads and neck muscles. While these could peck more vigorously, they would likely have greater problems with concussions.
