Follow

this is a post about woodpecker tongues! cw for animal skeletons + skeletal anatomy 

did you know woodpeckers have bones in their tongues? and that said tongue bones wrap all the way around the back of their skulls only to anchor near the nares? their tongues are SUPER long and they can store the excess length in the tubes of bone/cartilage! it's just one of their pro strats for getting bugs out of trees.
awoo.space/media/wgFtiJIbbujfJ awoo.space/media/2eX8FDnvbJl-Q

sources for the post above + pic of a woodpecker 

here's a good page describing woodpecker's tongue structure as well as how they can hammer into trees without breaking their own skulls - also the source of the illustrated diagram: birdwatchingdaily.com/blog/201

skull photo source: researchgate.net/figure/Anatom

pileated woodpecker photo source: justfunfacts.com/interesting-f

awoo.space/media/g6PXAFWTIBz-V

Sign in to participate in the conversation
Awoo Space

Awoo.space is a Mastodon instance where members can rely on a team of moderators to help resolve conflict, and limits federation with other instances using a specific access list to minimize abuse.

While mature content is allowed here, we strongly believe in being able to choose to engage with content on your own terms, so please make sure to put mature and potentially sensitive content behind the CW feature with enough description that people know what it's about.

Before signing up, please read our community guidelines. While it's a very broad swath of topics it covers, please do your best! We believe that as long as you're putting forth genuine effort to limit harm you might cause – even if you haven't read the document – you'll be okay!