Abstract
Natural biological materials such as bone, teeth and nacre are nano‐composites of protein and mineral frequently exhibit highly superior strength for self‐assembly and nanofabrication. Mineral mass and microstructure/nanostructure of bone are susceptible to stimulation by mechanical loads, ensuring that its mechanical behavior and strength are adapted to environmental changes. Woodpeckers repeatedly drum tree trunks at a speed of 6‐7 m s−1 and acceleration of ~1000 g with no head injuries. The uneven distribution of spongy bone has been founded on woodpecker′s skull in our previous study. More knowledge of the distribution of the shock‐absorbing spongy bone could be incorporated into the design of new safety helmets, sports products, and other devices that need to be able to resist the impact. In this study, the effect of microstructure of spongy bone in different parts on woodpecker’s skull compared with other birds was observed and analyzed. It was found that the unique coordinate ability of micro‐parameters in different parts of woodpecker’s skull could be one of the most important roles of its resistance to impact injury. Better understanding of the materials would provide new inspirations of shock‐absorbing composite materials in engineering.
Highlights
Head injuries sustained in sports or lifesaving in space ejection and car crash accidents commonly cause serious brain injury or death [1,2,3]
A major problem was that logically explanations were little based on the observation and analysis of microstructure and nanostructure of woodpecker’s bone in view of biomaterials
Bone volume fraction (BV/TV) of spongy bone for Eurasian hoopoe and Mongolian skylark was lower than that of Great spotted woodpecker (P < 0.05) which was consistent with our previous study [6, 30, 31]
Summary
Head injuries sustained in sports or lifesaving in space ejection and car crash accidents commonly cause serious brain injury or death [1,2,3]. Woodpeckers repeatedly bash their heads against tree trunks at a speed of 6-7 m s−1 and acceleration of ∼1000 g without any head injuries [4,5,6,7]. The woodpecker rhythmically drums surfaces such as dead tree limbs and metal poles with its beak to catch worms to eat and attract a mate or announce its territorial boundaries [7, 8]. The woodpecker’s resistance to head impact injury was a prime example of adaptive natural evolution by Natural Selection mentioned by Darwin who commented it was so admirably adapted to catch insects under the bark of tree [9]. Few studies have been done in view of materials. A major problem was that logically explanations were little based on the observation and analysis of microstructure and nanostructure of woodpecker’s bone in view of biomaterials
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