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How does a woodpecker not get a concussion from 12,000 blows a day?

Try hitting your forehead against a tree. It hurts, doesn't it? And a woodpecker does it every 2 seconds — and it doesn't matter! In a day, one woodpecker manages to make up to 12,000 blows with its beak on the trunk. The speed of the blow is about 25 kilometers per hour. If a person made even one such blow to the head, there would be a serious injury. So how does a woodpecker manage not to get a concussion?

Nature has come up with some ingenious tricks. First, the woodpecker's skull is like a sponge on the inside—porous, with tiny air chambers. They absorb impact, like an airbag in a car.

Secondly, the woodpecker's brain is very tightly fitted to the skull - without a gap. In humans, the brain floats in fluid, so when it hits, it hits the bone. In woodpeckers, it doesn't. The brain simply can't move.

Thirdly — and this is the most amazing! — the woodpecker has a long tongue that wraps around… the entire skull! Imagine: the tongue starts in the beak, goes down, and then wraps around the brain at the back and ends right near the eyes. This tongue works like a spring — additional shock absorption.

And the woodpecker hits strictly straight. No lateral movements - otherwise the neck would be injured.

Why so many knocks? The woodpecker searches for insects and larvae under the bark, hollows out a hole for a nest, and also "knocks" - this is its song, with which it calls a mate and marks its territory.

Scientists are studying woodpeckers to make better helmets for construction workers and athletes. The little bird is saving people's lives!