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Why don't woodpeckers get a headache?
Good question!
 By moving their beaks around more, woodpeckers minimize brain damage in specific areas.
    Woodpeckers’ skulls are more flexible because of the plate-like bones. This helps to minimize the damage of all that pecking.

    Woodpeckers have a special bone that acts like a seat-belt for its skull. It's called the hyoid bone, and it wraps all the way around a woodpecker's skull. Every time the bird pecks, the hyoid acts like a seat-belt for the bird's skull and the delicate brain it protects.

    Even the woodpeckers’ beak helps. A woodpecker’s upper beak is longer than its lower beak. The lower beak is also made of stronger bone to help absorb impact.

A woodpecker’s skull is like an internal bike helmet to keep its brain from getting hurt. Scientists even think some of the things they found out about woodpeckers can be used to make better helmets.



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