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Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches? | Amazing Animal facts for Kids · The Curious Kidcast | Fun Facts and Curious Questions

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  What if I told you there is a bird out there that smashes its
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  face into a tree around 10,000 times a day, every single day,
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  for its entire life and feels absolutely nothing?
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  No headache, no dizziness, no lying down in a dark room with a
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  cold flannel on its forehead. Nothing.
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  How is that even possible? Is it magic?
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  Is it some kind of super bird? Or is there a wild scientific
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  explanation hiding inside one of the most bonkers little birds on
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  the planet? Stick around, because today, on
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  the Curious Kid cast, we are going to find out exactly why
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  woodpeckers do not get headaches.
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  And the answer is even stranger than you think.
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  Curious kid cast? Here we go.
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  Questions popping minds will blow big ideas.
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  They're taking flight. Let's explore.
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  Feel the love. Welcome to the Curious Kid cast,
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  the show where we ask the questions that proper scientists
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  are probably too busy to answer because they're too busy doing
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  science things. I'm your host, Charlie, and
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  today we're diving into one of the most brilliantly weird
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  questions this show has ever received.
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  Before I tell you what the question is, I want you to
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  imagine something. Imagine you wake up 1 morning,
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  walk outside and decide the best way to start your day is to run
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  face first into a tree. Not once, not twice, but about
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  10,000 times every single day for your whole life.
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  Now you're probably thinking Charlie, that sounds absolutely
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  terrible, and you'll be right, it sounds like the worst morning
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  routine ever invented. But here's the thing.
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  There is a bird out there doing exactly that and it's completely
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  fine. Not just fine.
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  Thriving. Today's question comes from
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  Oscar, a nine year old from Bristol who sent us this
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  question after watching a woodpecker outside his nan's
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  kitchen window for 20 minutes while he was supposed to be
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  eating his toast. His nan was not very impressed.
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  But Oscar, we are very impressed because this question is
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  brilliant. Oscar wants to know why don't
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  woodpeckers get headaches? That is such a good question,
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  Oscar. And the answer is one of the
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  most wonderfully bonkers stories in all of nature.
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  So strap in, get comfortable, and let's get into it.
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  First, let's meet our star, the woodpecker.
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  Now, woodpeckers are birds, and there are lots of different
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  kinds living all over the world. Some are tiny, some are bigger.
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  They come in all sorts of spectacular colours, from black
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  and white to bright red and dazzling green.
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  They're basically the punky rock stars of the bird world.
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  You have probably heard a woodpecker before you have ever
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  seen one. That rapid hammering rat, a tat
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  tat sound in the woods is not a tiny construction worker.
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  It is a woodpecker doing what woodpeckers do best.
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  But why do they Peck in the first place?
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  Well, there are a few very good reasons.
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  They pecked to find insects hiding under bark.
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  They pecked to dig out cozy nest holes for their chicks.
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  They pecked to send messages to other woodpeckers, which is
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  basically nature's version of sending a very loud text
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  message. And they pecked to mark their
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  territory, which means telling every other woodpecker this tree
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  is mine, please go find your own tree, thank you very much.
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  Now here is the problem. When a woodpecker hammers into a
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  tree, its head is moving incredibly fast and then
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  stopping dead when the beak hits the wood.
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  In humans, sudden stops like that are really dangerous.
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  Our brains are soft and squiggy, and if they get shaken around we
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  can get seriously hurt. That is why people wear helmets
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  when cycling or skateboarding. A woodpecker has no helmet.
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  No tiny little hard hat, no miniature cycling helmet with a
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  little chin strap. Nothing.
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  So how on earth is it not absolutely concussed all the
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  time? Well, scientists have studied
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  this mystery for you put out that a woodpecker is not just a
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  bird that got a bit lucky. Its entire body is designed from
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  the top of its beak to the tip of its tail to handle all that
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  pecking. Let's go through the superpowers
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  1 by 1. Superpower #1 The skull.
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  A woodpecker's skull is built differently from ours.
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  It is strong, yes, but more importantly, it is shaped in a
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  way that helps manage the force from all that pecking.
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  Think of it like the packaging around a really fragile toy you
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  got for your birthday. You know when you open the box
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  and there's loads of foam and bubbly wrap around it?
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  That is basically what the inside of a woodpecker's head is
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  doing. It is cushioning the brain.
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  Superpower #2 The Beak A woodpecker's beak is shaped like
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  a chisel. That is the tool builders use to
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  carve and cut hard surfaces. And just like a good chisel, it
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  is designed for the job. But here is the sneaky clever
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  bit. The top and bottom parts of the
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  beak are slightly different lengths.
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  This means when it hits the tree, the force is directed away
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  from the brain rather than straight into it.
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  If brains could say thank you, they would be sending this beak
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  a very grateful card. Superpower #3 A tiny, snug
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  brain. Now, I do not want any
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  woodpeckers listening to feel insulted, but they do have small
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  brains, and in this case, small is actually brilliant.
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  A smaller brain has less room to wobble around inside the skull.
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  In humans, one danger when you bang your head is that the brain
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  moves inside your skull. Less movement means less damage.
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  Think of a Jelly in a lunch box. If there is loads of extra
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  space, it's sloshes everywhere. If it fits snugly, it barely
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  moves. A woodpecker's brain fits
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  snugly. Lucky little woodpecker
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  superpower #4 built in shock absorbers.
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  Woodpeckers have special bones and soft tissues in their head
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  that work like natural shock absorbers.
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  You know how some trainers have those really bouncy souls that
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  make running feel springy? It is a bit like that, but
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  inside a bird's head. These shock absorbers help
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  spread the force of pecking so no single part of the skull
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  takes the full impact. Very clever indeed.
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  Superpower #5 Powerful neck muscles.
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  A woodpecker's neck muscles are seriously strong and they do not
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  just make the pecking powerful, they also help control the
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  movement and bring the head to a stop safely.
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  Think of it like the brakes on a really fast bike.
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  The faster you go, the better your brakes need to be.
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  A woodpecker's neck muscles are the best brakes in the bird
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  world. Now, Are you ready for the
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  strangest fact in this entire episode?
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  Because this one is genuinely one of the weirdest things I've
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  ever learned about any animal ever.
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  Superpower number six, the tongue.
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  A woodpecker's tongue is incredibly long.
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  Some species can stretch it far out of their beak to grab
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  insects hidden deep inside holes in wood.
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  The tongue might be sticky or have tiny little barbs on the
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  end, like a tiny grappling hook for bugs.
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  Delicious. But here is the extraordinary
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  bit. Because the tongue is so long,
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  the structures that support it have to go somewhere.
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  And where do they go? They wrap around the outside of
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  the skull, around the skull. The tongue support bones loop
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  around the bird's actual head like a built in safety belt.
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  Scientists think this might even help protect the brain during
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  pecking. So a woodpecker's tongue is not
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  just for eating. It is also potentially a built
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  in crash helmet attachment. I cannot stress enough how
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  wonderfully weird that that is. Superpower #7 Safety goggles.
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  During all this pecking, bits of wood and bark are flying
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  everywhere. So woodpeckers have a special
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  extra eyelid called a nictitating membrane.
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  Say that three times fast. Nictitating membrane.
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  Nictitating membrane, Nick, You know what?
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  Let's just call it the safety eyelid.
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  It snaps shut during pecking to protect the eyes from flying
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  debris. It is basically built in safety
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  goggles, which is more than can be said for most woodworkers
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  I've seen on television. Superpower #8 grippy feet and a
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  stiff tail. This one sounds a bit odd, but
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  stay with me. Woodpeckers climb tree trunks
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  using very strong feet with grippy claws, but they also
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  press their stiff tail feathers against the tree like a prop.
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  This creates a stable 3 point base, 2 feet and a tail so the
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  bird does not wobble or bounce when it pecks.
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  If you tried hammering a nail while wobbling on a skateboard,
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  you would have a very bad time. A woodpecker never wobbles, it
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  is as steady as a tiny feathered rock.
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  And the woodpeckers drumming is not always about food either.
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  Sometimes woodpeckers drum just to communicate, to attract a
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  mate, to warn rivals, to announce their presence.
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  And if they find something that makes a really good loud noise,
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  they will drum on it. Metal drain pipes, rooftops, Rd.
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  signs. There are recorded cases of
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  woodpeckers drumming on people's gutters at 6:00 in the morning
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  and honestly, I respect the commitment.
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  The bird found a good drum kit and it is using it.
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  And here is something really exciting about woodpeckers that
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  goes beyond the birds themselves.
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  Scientists and engineers are actually studying woodpeckers to
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  help design better helmets and safer sports gear for humans.
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  This idea of copying designs from nature is called bio
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  mimicry. Bio meaning life and mimicry
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  meaning copying. So your future cycling helmet
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  might actually be inspired by a bird that bashes its face into
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  trees for a living. The world is wild, right?
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  Then it is quiz time. I'm going to ask you 3 multiple
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  choice questions about everything we have covered
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  today. Think carefully because some of
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  these are trickier than they look.
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  Question one, What shape is a woodpecker's beak and why does
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  it matter? Is it A round to help the bird
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  balance, B chisel shaped to help direct force away from the
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  brain, or C curved like a banana just for fun?
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  The answer is BA Woodpecker's beak is chisel shaped, and the
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  clever design helps direct the force of pecking away from the
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  brain instead of straight into it.
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  Not a banana, although that would be quite a look.
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  Question 2. Where do the bones that support
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  a woodpecker's very long tongue actually go inside its body?
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  Is it a they curl up inside the beak, B they loop all the way
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  around the outside of the skull, or C they are stored in a
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  special pocket near the wing. The answer is B.
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  The tongue support bones wrap around the outside of the skull,
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  which is one of the most gloriously strange things in the
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  entire animal Kingdom. There is no tongue pocket near
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  the wing. I just needed a silly option.
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  Question three. What is the word for when
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  scientists and engineers copy ideas from nature to solve human
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  problems? Is it a bio mimicry, B bird
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  brainology, or C nature copy? The answer is a bio mimicry, bio
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  meaning life, and mimicry meaning copying.
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  Bird brainology is absolutely not a real word.
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  So there we have it. Woodpeckers do not get headaches
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  because their entire body is built for pecking.
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  A specially shaped skull, a chisel beak, a snugly fitted
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  brain, natural shock absorbers, powerful neck muscles, a tongue
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  that wraps around their own head, built in safety goggles
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  and grippy stable feet. Everything working together as
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  one perfectly designed pecking machine.
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  If you have enjoyed today's episode, please share it with a
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  friend, a classmate, A sibling, or anyone who would enjoy having
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  their mind gently scrambled by the wonders of science.
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  And if you subscribe, you will never miss a single episode.
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  New episodes are released weekly and if you have got a question
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  you would like us to answer on the show, head over to
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  curiouskidcast.com and send it in.
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  Your question might just be the next episode.
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  It might be even weirder than Woodpecker's.
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  Honestly, the weirder the better.
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  I am Charlie, This has been the Curious kid cast.
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  Keep asking questions, keep being curious, and whatever you
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  do, please do not try head butting any trees.
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  Leave that to the professionals.