For a long time scientist have been baffled as to how owls turn their head nearly 180 degrees without having a stroke. Fabian de Kok-Mercado, a medical illustrator, led a team of neurological experts to find out. They found four major adaptations that allow owls to survive the lethal maneuver. The first one was that as an owl's head turned, its blood vessels below its head expanded and formed blood pools for reserve use. A second adaptation was that the owl's vascular network has many interconnections which allow uninterrupted blood flow. The third was that the carotid and the vertebral arteries can exchange blood in case one artery is blocked. The final adaptation is the owl's vertebrae have larger than normal holes which the vertebral arteries run through, allowing the artery to move around when the head is twisted. The study showed the scientist why humans are so vulnerable to osteopathic injury.
Science is collaborative: A team of scientists worked together to figure out the 180 head turning mystery.
Science is based on evidence: The scientists found what happens using liquid that served to simulate blood in the owls arteries.
Role of motivation and curiosity: The scientists were curious about how an owl survives constant, potentially lethal, head turnings and contortions.
I knew that owls can't move their eyes, and that by moving their heads they are able to look around. According to the article I read, owls have a 110 degree field of vision without rotating their head, and 70 degrees of the 110 degrees is binocular vision. I am surprised that there are so many different things that go into the owls ability to rotate its head so far.
ReplyDeleteLink: http://www.owlpages.com/articles.php?section=owl+physiology&title=vision
This is really cool i had no idea that owls could even turn their heads all the way around. i just thought they could move them further than we could. Owls also have down covered wings so they can fly silently.
ReplyDeletehttp://twistedsifter.com/2010/08/10-facts-about-owls/