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My bet, the ultimate answer is just going to be something like: "Yeah, there's some padding and stuff, but they still give themselves concussions and then they just deal with it"
I've been secretly hoping that a photo I upload to Wikimedia Commons gets used in a SciShow video for literally years, and look at 0:50 , that's my photo. For those wondering, this is a Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) skull with the sclerotic ring (eye bones) and rhamphotheca (keratinous part of the beak) removed. The photo was taken in the Osteology section of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington.
Sci show has a tendency to make mistakes like this as each video is based off 1 or 2 papers not broad research, you are correct there tongues wrap the head inside a tendon like sheath to act as a brain shock absorber.
A woodpecker (yes, I do think it was the same one) used to show up in my yard and pound on either my bird feeder or the down-spout of a gutter, both which are made of metal, and he would go at it for hours, never learning he wasn't making any progress except chipping the paint. He always returned to attack the same spot on each.
I've got to say: that ad transition at the end was awesome. "You might be thinking: Woodpeckers can't read! Well it's a good thing they've got an audio version too..."
If you're thinking they avoid pecking things that are "not too stuff", you can throw that idea out. I can assure you woodpeckers are happy to peck repeatedly, day after day, on metal towers. Either they used the reverberating "clang-clang-clang-clang-clang" to communicate, or they just like the sound/feeling of it.
"How a bird can repeatedly pound it's head against a tree trunk without damaging its brain in the process?" Clearly Hank has never worked for a government agency.
I find it strange that the whistle like shape of the skull wouldn't tip someone off that some resonance braking was occurring. Like, if the pressure wave is transferred along the lower jaw to the back of the skull, it stands to reason it would continue around the skull into that spongey area. If the acoustic properties of the skull are right, that travel time might be just right to set up a sympathetic vibration to dampen internal vibrations without actually absorbing any of the shock, as the wave would then travel down instead of around. But that's just me.
After recently rewatching sci show psych compilations on the brain, one has to wonder how much woodpecker brains might be able to teach us about chronic head trauma. Do they have the same systems in place that we do serving different purposes, such as microglia? What could they teach us about disorders like CTE? Do old woodpeckers eventually develop something resembling CTE? If not what biological processes have they evolved to have become resistant to such problems?
Research has shown that woodpecker brains do in fact show signs of injury and produce proteins similar to humans with dementia and degenerative nerve diseases. Woodpeckers just don’t seem to suffer any adverse effects from these injuries, though. We have yet to determine why this is the case, though.
I think the jaw hypothesis makes the most sense, since you can pack in a lot of cushioning tendons and neck muscles behind a jaw bone. I do wonder if the mammalian jaw/gill/ear evolution prevents mammals from doing something similar.
It really helps too that woodpecker brains are just really small and don't have much in the way of mass to decelerate. Human brains are far larger and more fragile
What about that woodpecker that frequently gets going on my gutter's downspout? Does the beak to metal action cause problems and WHY does the wacky thing go nuts on the metal pipe?!
So in the little animated clip talking about the jugal bone (3:06), it showed the direction of the equal and opposite force went. When I saw that, I thought, "What if, along with the bit of spongy bone, that is what helps keep the birds brain safe?" So, here's my hypothesis: With all the data presented here along with the question as stated above, I believe that could be enough to help keep the brains of woodpeckers safe.
I remember reading an article which said woodpecker brains display injuries and chemical signatures that are similar to Alzheimer’s and other degenerative nerve diseases in humans. For reasons we have yet to determine, though, they simply do not suffer adverse effects like humans do.
I've seen a recent article suggesting that they have a really long tongue which wraps around their skull to some extent. Which adds padding, basically.
My bet would be that woodpeckers have sophisticated systems of fluid, ventricles, and flow pathways that use pressure to slow their brains and keep them from impacting the inside of the skulls, as well as the other adaptations they possess.
Looks like the inverse square law also work here. The strength of the material is proportional to the square of the diameter but the mass is dependent on the volume of the object and thus proportional to the cubic of the size. Woodpeckers have the brains just small enough to survive the shock with enough cushioning. Human brains are simply too heavy for that.
it seems the esophagus part for the most of time can send it far back quickly without most of the outer portion being dissolved in the proximal gastric, but as we see the huMAN fails, it consumes and as the allergic reaction increases and not reduces in a different site and white blood cells cause a cold shock and you know what that systemically will do in the longer duration of not being solved.
Did none of these studies look at the tongue, which continues back, between the horns of the hyoid bone, and then wraps around and attaches to the sagittal crest at the top of the skull? The tongue sloshes around so the brain doesn't have to. Wasn't that the subject of your previous woodpecker video?
SciShow: "not pecking wood that's too stiff" My neighborhood's woodpecker: "LOOL I'll peck this freaking steel chimney with a speed of 10000 PPM" PS: he's been doing it every spring/summer for at least 5 years.
Kinda like a combination hammer and chisel. I wonder if they master exiting that resonance stage with more difficulty than entering it; in similar vein to the mastery of accelerating powerful machinery being much easier than (subsequently) slowing and halting it without succumbing to detrimental jolting and vibrations.
Interesting, in eastern Europe as a kid (15-20) years ago, I was told that the mehanism behind not getting concussion was completely different. I was told that brain is smaller thant cavity, it was "hanging" on elastic "strings" and floating in some kind of liquid. Those two elemnts would work as dampened spring and help prevent concussion. It would be interesting to know if anyone had heard something simmilar?
Used to have a woodpecker try and drill thru a transformer outsode our house. Went on for years. Then the transformer got blown up in a storm. He didnt like the new one and stopped pecking at it.
I'm wondering, isn't there really any studies done on the mechanics and physiology of the woodpeckers' pecking? I'm very surprised that in this day and age we still don't have a solid answer on this question but only speculations of various kinds. Where have the ornithologists been on this vlog??
I’m just going to go old school ‘scientist’ on this and say, “Clearly woodpeckers’ brain are not in their heads, but in their rears, as if it were in their head they would immediately concuss themselves to death. It is likely that all birds’ brains are actually in their rears, and that this was evolved long ago even before they split from dinosaurs.”
It would be interesting to have a complex species to evolve having its brain be located somewhere besides the head. Guess that would be a bit much, though it would be rather interesting.
SciShow continues to be foolish by giving God the credit for creating such an amazing creature! Behind every object, there is a design. Behind every design is a designer!
Fun fact: Male woodpeckers attract girls by showing off how big and strong their pecking game is. This is why you'll find woodpeckers having at it at steel gutters, because that makes a lot of noice. And why you'll find woodpeckers cutting a tree in two, because during mating season the males peck wood until they either get laid or die of exhaustion.
I'm going to debate the argument that they peck soft woods because there are woodpeckers in my building that peck the metal pipes to get bugs to come out.
In Arizona and other parts of the southwest we had to deal with these little idiots banging their beaks on our chimney covers. My Dads theory was they liked how loud it made them sound. My Brothers theory was they never learned becuse they kept self-concussing.
yoooo. that blinkist hookup sounding pretty dopeee! curious to hear whether ppl who have read some of the books hosted on blinkist believe they were done justice tho, hmm🤔
All the reasoning is how the skull is adapted. How is the brain adapted to this? A brain moving back and forth in a well protected skull would still mean injury!
Maybe they just feel what works for them and respond appropriately. In time much like us they will adapt appropriately… though much like them we slam things and adapt where we can
What about this, if you took an ant and flicked it off your kitchen counter, it gets up and runs away. It doesn't die, it doesn't get stunned or paralyzed. I imagine if you took an ant and dropped it from 1000 ft up in the sky, same thing. Whatever is going on with that ant and my guess is its weight related, is probably the answer to how much wood a woodpecker can peck as a woodpecker pecks much wood.
And explain this.....I have a metal roof.....explain why they bang on the roof.... APPARENTLY to attract a mate??? Can this be your next program cuz my head HURTS🤣
If you're able to accept that a fish can produce an Outlets worth of electricity and stun others it makes everything just seem a little more possible, I know there has to be a science to it but just because you haven't figured out the science for it doesn't mean it can't be possible
Thanks to Blinkist for sponsoring this episode. Click the link to start your 7-day free trial and get 25% off a premium membership: www.blinkist.com/scishow
Please please make more scientific videos about ocean life like luminescent ones ect. And hybridisation in wild animals which I find fascinating
I enjoy blinkist a lot but there are a lot unscientific topics e.g. against vaccines.
My bet, the ultimate answer is just going to be something like: "Yeah, there's some padding and stuff, but they still give themselves concussions and then they just deal with it"
I've been secretly hoping that a photo I upload to Wikimedia Commons gets used in a SciShow video for literally years, and look at 0:50 , that's my photo. For those wondering, this is a Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) skull with the sclerotic ring (eye bones) and rhamphotheca (keratinous part of the beak) removed. The photo was taken in the Osteology section of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington.
Their beak is quite sharp, so it might not be like hitting a rock, but rather a softer impact as the beak tip pushes its way into the wood.
What about woodpecker tongues? I vaguely remember that being part of a protection system.
Sci show has a tendency to make mistakes like this as each video is based off 1 or 2 papers not broad research, you are correct there tongues wrap the head inside a tendon like sheath to act as a brain shock absorber.
I thought so too.
Yes, they wrap around the brain inside their skull right?
@@RedstonerD They do, but I think it was only a hypothesis that it helps prevent shock.
The tongue does wrap around the skull and is theorized for shock protection
I think rams ramming eachother at full force look far more painful, I am always amazed that they are built to handle that without injury.
A woodpecker (yes, I do think it was the same one) used to show up in my yard and pound on either my bird feeder or the down-spout of a gutter, both which are made of metal, and he would go at it for hours, never learning he wasn't making any progress except chipping the paint. He always returned to attack the same spot on each.
He may have just enjoyed the sound.
Depending on the woodpecker type it was doing it to attract a mate or scare away birds like crows or establishing a territory.
I’m afraid all that wood pecking got to his brain…
Thanks for all the amazing work you do Hank.
And to the behind the scene team as well. Always amazing editing/production.
Best wishes!!!
I've got to say: that ad transition at the end was awesome. "You might be thinking: Woodpeckers can't read! Well it's a good thing they've got an audio version too..."
If you're thinking they avoid pecking things that are "not too stuff", you can throw that idea out. I can assure you woodpeckers are happy to peck repeatedly, day after day, on metal towers. Either they used the reverberating "clang-clang-clang-clang-clang" to communicate, or they just like the sound/feeling of it.
I had a home with an aluminum antenna. An aluminum pecker was at it constantly until I took it down.
"How a bird can repeatedly pound it's head against a tree trunk without damaging its brain in the process?"
Clearly Hank has never worked for a government agency.
Drain Bamage is a feature, not consequence
@@pierrecurie hah. It's possible it might be a prerequisite!😂
I heard that the tongue wraps around the brain like a bungee cord, absorbing the shock
That's the thought that was rattling around in my head!
Pretty sure we all learned that from Hank, lol.
Same here. Surprised it wasn't mentioned
That hypothesis was disproven in the July 2022 paper.
@@midnight8341 can you give the name of the report.
Pretty sure I remember you answering this question on "Dear Hank & John", may have been a few years back.
Lots of woodpeckers around my home. They even put holes in the house sometimes 😂 fascinating.
Thanks Hank!
Plot twist woodpeckers all suffer from repeated concussion syndrome
It’d be interesting if they get a form of CTE
Love all your channels! Thanks to all in front of and behind the cameras 👍
I find it strange that the whistle like shape of the skull wouldn't tip someone off that some resonance braking was occurring. Like, if the pressure wave is transferred along the lower jaw to the back of the skull, it stands to reason it would continue around the skull into that spongey area. If the acoustic properties of the skull are right, that travel time might be just right to set up a sympathetic vibration to dampen internal vibrations without actually absorbing any of the shock, as the wave would then travel down instead of around.
But that's just me.
they also use their long tongues which wrap around their brain to cushion shockwaves
Wonderful video! I have spent lots of time watching woodpeckers and they are pretty special birds.
Woodpecker pecking my window frame into a mess is what I'm more concerned about..
After recently rewatching sci show psych compilations on the brain, one has to wonder how much woodpecker brains might be able to teach us about chronic head trauma. Do they have the same systems in place that we do serving different purposes, such as microglia? What could they teach us about disorders like CTE? Do old woodpeckers eventually develop something resembling CTE? If not what biological processes have they evolved to have become resistant to such problems?
Research has shown that woodpecker brains do in fact show signs of injury and produce proteins similar to humans with dementia and degenerative nerve diseases. Woodpeckers just don’t seem to suffer any adverse effects from these injuries, though. We have yet to determine why this is the case, though.
I think the jaw hypothesis makes the most sense, since you can pack in a lot of cushioning tendons and neck muscles behind a jaw bone. I do wonder if the mammalian jaw/gill/ear evolution prevents mammals from doing something similar.
They are simply rubbing together brain cells manually. Smartest creatures on earth
OMG! THEY'RE LIKE HAMMERHEAD BIRD-SHARKS!!
It really helps too that woodpecker brains are just really small and don't have much in the way of mass to decelerate. Human brains are far larger and more fragile
What about that woodpecker that frequently gets going on my gutter's downspout? Does the beak to metal action cause problems and WHY does the wacky thing go nuts on the metal pipe?!
Maybe, the brain isn't in the head, but other part of the body 🤣🤣🤣
i was told their toungues wrap around their skull and act as padding
ah the 90's
So in the little animated clip talking about the jugal bone (3:06), it showed the direction of the equal and opposite force went. When I saw that, I thought, "What if, along with the bit of spongy bone, that is what helps keep the birds brain safe?"
So, here's my hypothesis:
With all the data presented here along with the question as stated above, I believe that could be enough to help keep the brains of woodpeckers safe.
transitioning from birds can't read to audiobook was hillarious xD
I remember reading an article which said woodpecker brains display injuries and chemical signatures that are similar to Alzheimer’s and other degenerative nerve diseases in humans. For reasons we have yet to determine, though, they simply do not suffer adverse effects like humans do.
why would woodpeckers then peck at metal chimney pipe? had one that would go nuts for hours every day in spring .
How complicated and COOL the Creator designed them. :)
I've seen a recent article suggesting that they have a really long tongue which wraps around their skull to some extent. Which adds padding, basically.
4:35 omg, birds truly are psychopaths... just look at that one!
I'm thinking, "what the hell is this person talking about..."
...thheeen I clicked...
......then EVERY WORD TYPED MADE POIFECT SENSE......
My bet would be that woodpeckers have sophisticated systems of fluid, ventricles, and flow pathways that use pressure to slow their brains and keep them from impacting the inside of the skulls, as well as the other adaptations they possess.
Great video!!! ❤
i wonder if pecking chickens have spongy bones in the skulls also
Looks like the inverse square law also work here. The strength of the material is proportional to the square of the diameter but the mass is dependent on the volume of the object and thus proportional to the cubic of the size. Woodpeckers have the brains just small enough to survive the shock with enough cushioning. Human brains are simply too heavy for that.
You might say their skulls are... Built Different!
it seems the esophagus part for the most of time can send it far back quickly without most of the outer portion being dissolved in the proximal gastric,
but as we see the huMAN fails, it consumes and as the allergic reaction increases and not reduces in a different site and white blood cells cause a cold shock and you know what that systemically will do in the longer duration of not being solved.
Strong head 👍
yeeees thank you for making this one
Nature knows so much we don't and it doesn't even know it
Did none of these studies look at the tongue, which continues back, between the horns of the hyoid bone, and then wraps around and attaches to the sagittal crest at the top of the skull? The tongue sloshes around so the brain doesn't have to. Wasn't that the subject of your previous woodpecker video?
That woodpecker video looks exactly like a jackhammer
Maybe John could ask the ones outside his house if they get concussions?
I specifically feed the flickers to keep them around as much as possible. I love to watch them eat the bugs off of my sunflowers.
Nope. They are giant termites that can destroy your house and trees.
@@mikelund327 I own two homes. I have never had a problem in 30 years, in either one, and I have lived in both. Maybe it’s your location?
SciShow: "not pecking wood that's too stiff"
My neighborhood's woodpecker: "LOOL I'll peck this freaking steel chimney with a speed of 10000 PPM"
PS: he's been doing it every spring/summer for at least 5 years.
the ones around my house frequently peck at the metal framed door to my deck
Mating.
Kinda like a combination hammer and chisel. I wonder if they master exiting that resonance stage with more difficulty than entering it; in similar vein to the mastery of accelerating powerful machinery being much easier than (subsequently) slowing and halting it without succumbing to detrimental jolting and vibrations.
Interesting, in eastern Europe as a kid (15-20) years ago, I was told that the mehanism behind not getting concussion was completely different. I was told that brain is smaller thant cavity, it was "hanging" on elastic "strings" and floating in some kind of liquid. Those two elemnts would work as dampened spring and help prevent concussion. It would be interesting to know if anyone had heard something simmilar?
Used to have a woodpecker try and drill thru a transformer outsode our house. Went on for years. Then the transformer got blown up in a storm. He didnt like the new one and stopped pecking at it.
Cutely pecking away
I'm wondering, isn't there really any studies done on the mechanics and physiology of the woodpeckers' pecking? I'm very surprised that in this day and age we still don't have a solid answer on this question but only speculations of various kinds. Where have the ornithologists been on this vlog??
I have never seen a woodpecker before, besides on tv and internet
Ive always considered them to be Woodpicker, not Woodpeckers
I’m just going to go old school ‘scientist’ on this and say, “Clearly woodpeckers’ brain are not in their heads, but in their rears, as if it were in their head they would immediately concuss themselves to death. It is likely that all birds’ brains are actually in their rears, and that this was evolved long ago even before they split from dinosaurs.”
if a woodpecker could peck a wood, how many woods would a woodpecker peck if woodpecker could peck a wood?
They tongue wrap from the back to the front like a spring mechanism or something
If a woodpecker could talk, it would sound like Hershel Walker?
It would be interesting to have a complex species to evolve having its brain be located somewhere besides the head. Guess that would be a bit much, though it would be rather interesting.
SciShow continues to be foolish by giving God the credit for creating such an amazing creature! Behind every object, there is a design. Behind every design is a designer!
Radical.
We have no idea.
Fun fact: Male woodpeckers attract girls by showing off how big and strong their pecking game is. This is why you'll find woodpeckers having at it at steel gutters, because that makes a lot of noice. And why you'll find woodpeckers cutting a tree in two, because during mating season the males peck wood until they either get laid or die of exhaustion.
🤣
I'm going to debate the argument that they peck soft woods because there are woodpeckers in my building that peck the metal pipes to get bugs to come out.
Head bangers 🤘💀
Ooh yea I see and hear them all the time 😖😱
Is hoopoe classed as woodpecker for this way of pecking ?
Fuckin hell lmao I thought you were talking about woodpeckers reading EDDIE Murphy’s book and I was... wholly confused 😂
this made me think of baki and their wobbling brain science
“I’m a woodpecker, but with dirt”
-Big Ed
In Arizona and other parts of the southwest we had to deal with these little idiots banging their beaks on our chimney covers. My Dads theory was they liked how loud it made them sound. My Brothers theory was they never learned becuse they kept self-concussing.
yoooo. that blinkist hookup sounding pretty dopeee! curious to hear whether ppl who have read some of the books hosted on blinkist believe they were done justice tho, hmm🤔
Woody woodpecker
ha - ha ‐ Ha ‐ HA ‐ Ha!
How many other people heard that Woody Woodpecker laugh in their head when they read that comment? I did.
If they have a higher viscosity cerebral spinal fluid it would slow down brain movement as well.
Woodpeckers can't read! Truly, the important science
Could you make a human head explode by tuning into that frequentie using sound?
In the words of captain hammer…
Maybe they just don't have that much brain to protect. :-P
Even if a woodpecker used Blinkist it still wouldn’t be able to comprehend human language. C’mon Hank…
All the reasoning is how the skull is adapted. How is the brain adapted to this? A brain moving back and forth in a well protected skull would still mean injury!
When hank mentioned the bathtub thing i was like" 😳😦how did you know i used to do that"
Maybe they just feel what works for them and respond appropriately. In time much like us they will adapt appropriately… though much like them we slam things and adapt where we can
What about this, if you took an ant and flicked it off your kitchen counter, it gets up and runs away. It doesn't die, it doesn't get stunned or paralyzed. I imagine if you took an ant and dropped it from 1000 ft up in the sky, same thing. Whatever is going on with that ant and my guess is its weight related, is probably the answer to how much wood a woodpecker can peck as a woodpecker pecks much wood.
Not sure whether to commend or condemn your writers for not starting with "Scientists have been beating their heads against a wall..."
What if… woodpeckers just had no brains?
won't the bark bark broke their bok-bok?
Awesome to realize God made this creature on an instant, and it worked , still we can not fully comprehend how it works and lives....
Dump ALL incumbents.
I've got a built in hammer myself.
and a helmet?
@@ryanlangan1060 correct
And explain this.....I have a metal roof.....explain why they bang on the roof.... APPARENTLY to attract a mate??? Can this be your next program cuz my head HURTS🤣
Hey, i thought i recognize that voice. 😂
If you're able to accept that a fish can produce an Outlets worth of electricity and stun others it makes everything just seem a little more possible, I know there has to be a science to it but just because you haven't figured out the science for it doesn't mean it can't be possible
Maybe, just maybe, have you thought about the idea that brain for other animals are not as essential as brains to humans?
You wore that lumberjack shirt on purpose, didn't you?
what does what again? i must have missed it
#sponsorblock
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Yes
but gravity