Why do woodpeckers resist head impact injury:​ a biomechanical investigation

Wang, Lizhen; Cheung, Jason Tak-Man; Pu, Fang; Li, Deyu; Zhang, Ming; Fan, Yubo

Affiliations

¹Key Laboratory for Biomechanics and Mechanobiology of Ministry of Education, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, People's Republic of China

²Department of Health Technology and Informatics, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

³Li Ning Sports Science Research Center, Beijing, People's Republic of China

Abstract

Head injury is a leading cause of morbidity and death in both industrialized and developing countries. It is estimated that brain injuries account for 15% of the burden of fatalities and disabilities, and represent the leading cause of death in young adults. Brain injury may be caused by an impact or a sudden change in the linear and/or angular velocity of the head. However, the woodpecker does not experience any head injury at the high speed of 6–7 m/s with a deceleration of 1000 g when it drums a tree trunk. It is still not known how woodpeckers protect their brain from impact injury. In order to investigate this, two synchronous high-speed video systems were used to observe the pecking process, and the force sensor was used to measure the peck force. The mechanical properties and macro/micro morphological structure in woodpecker's head were investigated using a mechanical testing system and micro-CT scanning. Finite element (FE) models of the woodpecker's head were established to study the dynamic intracranial responses. The result showed that macro/micro morphology of cranial bone and beak can be recognized as a major contributor to non-impact-injuries. This biomechanical analysis makes it possible to visualize events during woodpecker pecking and may inspire new approaches to prevention and treatment of human head injury.

Links

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0026490

PubMed: 22046293

PubMedCentral: 22046293

WoS: 000296519600022

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Cited By (5)

Year	Entry
2012	Zhu ZD, Ma GJ, Wu CW, Chen Z. Numerical study of the impact response of woodpecker’s head. AIP Adv. 2012;2(4):042173.
2023	Wheatley BB, Gilmore EC, Fuller LH, Drake AM, Donahue SW. How the geometry and mechanics of bighorn sheep horns mitigate the effects of impact and reduce the head injury criterion. Bioinspir Biomim. February 2023;18(2):026005.
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2016	Lee NY. Experimental-Computational Analysis of Woodpeckers' Beaks/hyoid Apparatus for Damping of Stress Waves [PhD thesis]. Mississippi State University; August 2016.
2019	Jung J-Y. Learning from Nature: An Investigation of an Impact-Resistant System on the Woodpecker Head as a Non-Traumatic Brain Injury Animal Model [PhD thesis]. San Siego, CA: University of California San Diego; 2019.