How woodpeckers avoid head injury

BBC News - How woodpeckers avoid head injury:

'via Blog this'

Slow-motion footage, X-ray images and computer simulations have shed light on how woodpeckers avoid injuries to their brains as they peck.

Their heads move some 6m per second, at each peck enduring a deceleration more than 1,000 times the force of gravity.

But researchers reporting in Plos One say that unequal upper and lower beak lengths and spongy, plate-like bone structure protect the birds' brains.

The findings could help design more effective head protection for humans.