Woodpecker Tongues Are Weird But Surprisingly Useful

Have you ever thought about a woodpecker's tongue? We know woodpeckers by their hard beaks that they ram against trees (and houses and even metal siding) like jackhammers. They do that to find the ants and other insects living in those trees, which make up their diet. A woodpecker's tongue is very long, made to reach in and extract those insects, extending up to four inches past the tip of its beak.

But that's not the only thing a woodpecker's tongue does. It also works as a seat belt of sorts to cushion and stabilize the bird's brain while it violently pecks wood. The tongue actually wraps around the brain inside the woodpecker's head! The tongue is anchored to the hyoid bone, just like in humans, but a woodpecker's hyoid bone is in its upper beak near the nostrils and pointed backwards. The tongue wraps around the back of the brain inside the skull and finally emerges out of the mouth. You can see a video of a woodpecker's tongue in action at Boing Boing, but you won't see inside the bird's head. You will see a woodpecker's hyoid bone at work if you look closely at a previous video.

(Image credit: Denise Takahashi/American Bird Conservancy)