Woodpeckers show signs of possible brain damage, but that might not be a bad thing

Date:  February 2, 2018

Source:  Field Museum

Summary:

With each peck, woodpeckers absorb more than ten times the force it would take to give a human a concussion. But they seem fine. Researchers examined the brains of woodpeckers in museum collections and saw that the brains showed a build-up of a protein that's a sign of brain damage in humans. The woodpeckers might not have sustained brain damage themselves, though -- the researchers think that protein build-up could possibly be beneficial to the birds.

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