Woodpecker pecking: how woodpeckers avoid brain injury
Woodpeckers are capable of repeated pecking on a tree at remarkably high decelerations (on the order of 10 000 m s−2 or 1000 g). In this paper, I re-examine previous studies of pecking and scaling effects in brain injury. I find that there are three keys to woodpeckers' ability to withstand hig...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Wiley Blackwell (Blackwell Publishing)
2012
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70094 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7559-7815 |
| Summary: | Woodpeckers are capable of repeated pecking on a tree at remarkably high decelerations (on the order of 10 000 m s−2 or 1000 g). In this paper, I re-examine previous studies of pecking and scaling effects in brain injury. I find that there are three keys to woodpeckers' ability to withstand high decelerations: their small size, which reduces the stress on the brain for a given acceleration; the short duration of the impact, which increases the tolerable acceleration; and the orientation of the brain within the skull, which increases the area of contact between the brain and the skull. |
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