BR: v8

WOODPECKER HEAD THRASHING:  When drilling into wood in search of food or to make a nesting spot, a woodpecker exerts so much force with each strike that its beak should crumble, its skull should crack, and its brain should be rejuvenated to new alertness!

WOODPECKER HEAD THRASHING:  An amazing group of design features absorb the shock of the woodpecker head pounding so well that as the woodpecker pounds its head against tree trunks two hundred times a second, it comes up smiling every time!

WOODPECKER HEAD THRASHING:  The woodpecker hits so hard that when its head stops, it experiences an incredible 1200 g’s of force!  300g’s of force will give a human severe brain injury!  Some woodpeckers are even able to withstand 6000g’s!  That’s 20 times the force that will knock a person out!

WOODPECKER HEAD THRASHING:  The woodpecker is able to survive its incredible beak impacts because of shock-absorbing features built into its head. Its beak is made of elastic material.  There is flimsy bone behind the beak.  There is also special skull bone containing spinal fluid.

WOODPECKER HEAD THRASHING:  The woodpecker’s tongue–which is as long as its body–adds to this mix of protective features. When its tongue retracts into its mouth, there is no room for it.  Instead it wraps around the woodpecker’s skull and serves as an additional shock absorber!  

HUMMINGBIRD POWER DRYERS:  Hummingbirds aren’t affected by rain much.  They can zip around in heavy rain almost like it’s a sunny day. Hummingbirds shake themselves dry as they fly.  

HUMMINGBIRD POWER DRYERS:   When hummingbirds shake their heads, they shake at 34g’s!  That’s no small amount of g-force!  A jet pilot might experience 90 g’s in a severe maneuver.  He would pass out at 34g’s.

HUMMINGBIRD POWER DRYERS:  34 g’s is incredible! Yet little hummer does it mid-flight and keeps right on zipping around! 

HUMMINGBIRD POWER DRYERS:   When the hummer spins its head side-to-side to shake, it does it so fast that if it didn’t stop the movement with a perfectly timed muscle contraction going the other way, his head would spin around a dozen times.

HUMMINGBIRD POWER DRYERS:  Doing the shakes to dry itself is a matter of life and death for the little hummers.  Hummingbirds need to fly in the rain because their energy needs are so high. They can’t afford too lay around on rainy days or they will die of starvation.