A woodpecker hits wood at about 20 km/h (12 mph), up to 30 times a second, and its brain can decelerate at up to about 400 g. The estimated concussion threshold for a human brain is about 135 g, roughly three times lower.
For years people assumed the woodpecker’s skull worked like a shock absorber. High-speed video of more than 100 pecks showed the opposite: the head works like a stiff hammer and doesn’t cushion the blow. The real protection is size. A woodpecker’s brain is about one seventh the length of ours, and a smaller brain feels far less strain from the same deceleration. Scaled for brain size, scientists estimate a woodpecker could take around 1,000 g.
Sources:
– Physics Today (2024), “Why woodpeckers don’t get concussions”:
– Van Wassenbergh et al. (2022), “Woodpeckers minimize cranial absorption of shocks,” Current Biology.
3D woodpecker and person generated with Meshy, edited and animated by us. Forest HDRI and textures from Poly Haven (CC0). Illustrated animation, not footage.
#woodpecker #brain #animals
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Tiny brain? Hmm both cases sound similar lol😂
I'm pretty sure they Also have tongues so long they wrap around the brain case to provide cushioning