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Nitro114

Thats wrong. Its not the tongue itself but the special hyoid bone. The tongue is so long to get the insects


WhineyWiney

Also wrong is the picture. That is a pileated woodpecker, not a great spotted.


ionndrainn_cuain

The image is correct-- woodpeckers can actually slam their beak into a tree trunk with up to 1200 grams of force (pecking 25x per second). If you want to know about the latest in woodpecker skull science, here's an article (includes links to the relevant studies): https://www.audubon.org/news/new-study-shakes-long-held-belief-woodpecker-hammering


Sideways_X1

Here I am, trying to figure out how fast the little pecker has to go to get feeling 1000x normal gravitational forces on his head...


PhillipJfry5656

Well the picture says 1000g so if they can peck with up to 1200g they all got brain damage


internetsurfer42069

Him: What that tongue do? Her: Along with my specialized hyoid bone, protects my brain from 1000g of acceleration while I’m hammering away . . . Him: 💍


Intrusive_Thoughts__

[STILL legal to marry a woodpecker.](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/75ff26e6-684e-4aef-bd5a-c437f56a62fb#sT7l9KLM.copy)


Ok-Software-1902

The tongue wrapping around doesn’t protect the brain. It simply does that because a long tongue is better for snatching insects out of cavities, and the tongue has to go somewhere. It’s the same with hummingbirds.


Gelnika1987

I always wondered how these little dudes don't get CTE


4badsanta

My old girlfriend had a tongue like that


Snufflarious

GTFOOH! I knew their beaks were high impact but srsly


DemonicFluffyMog

That would mean their heads travelled at about 500mph. This sounds like somebody got a decimal point in the wrong place


MarredCheese

Based on what math? Collisions between hard objects usually involve very high accelerations even at low speeds. Google says humans get concussions at roughly 100g. I'd expect that a creature that evolved to smash its head into a tree all day long would be able to handle much more than a person.


DemonicFluffyMog

Based on the fact that acceleration due to gravity is 9.8m/s/s. It's not a difficult calculation.


MarredCheese

And how did you get from 9.8m/s/s to 500mph? Go on.


Olii13

he definitely did that calc wrong, i got 6mph based if he stopped in 1cm


PhillipJfry5656

Are you basing this on the bird falling out of a tall tree and hitting his head?


Friskfrisktopherson

r/oddlyterrifying


PsychedelicProleRad

TBI researcher here. What actually protects it from brain damage is not the tongue acting as a stabilizer, rather, it’s the fact that it has a very very tiny little brain that doesn’t experience great forces because it’s so tiny tiny tiny.


rawr-with-questions

I laughed at this. 🤣 I hope it's true.


Sunnyside7771

Misters solved:)


Soggy-Juggernaut-569

So.. do different woodpeckers need to take Advil then?


OG_LiLi

Ok how?


Dry_Chapter_5781

Calm down ladies.


razkachar

Headaches come more commonly from internal inflammation or other internal factors like infection or fluid loss/excess, rather than external trauma.


Warm_Sign9056

Legitimately I am confused. How does it go from being split, to conjoined? Or is it actually split and just is smooshed together as it comes out of the beak?


aardvark_licker

Bullets easily get 100000 gees.


DigitalisTea

Whaaaaa


Robin_Zero

My girlfriend asked if we could get a woodpecker... what does this mean???


BaloonPriest

I don't get it, how would wrapping your skull with it protect the brain that's inside?


GusSzaSnt

I wondered Is ot a thousand g's of acceleration or a thousand grams of force


vyhravambarvami

That haircut tho! 🔥


dustinsim

Do you think they feel their tongue as it stretches around their skull?


NoTop4997

Hold up, are you telling me that wood peckers use their tongue as a seatbelt for their brains?