Body Protected From Diving Impact

a gray colored pelican with a yellow head floats on top of blue water

Biological Strategy

Brown pelican

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Image: Philip Brown / Unsplash / Free non-commercial use

Manage Impact

An impact is a high force or mechanical shock that happens over a short period of time, such as a hammer hitting a nail rather than a hand pushing slowly against a wall. Because of their speed and force, impacts don’t allow materials to slowly adjust to the force, which can lead to cracks, ruptures, and complete breakage. Therefore, living systems have strategies that can absorb, dissipate, or otherwise survive that force without the need to add large amounts of material. For example, the Toco toucan’s large beak is very lightweight, yet can withstand impacts because it’s made of a composite material with rigid foam inside and layers of a hard, fibrous material outside.

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Birds

Class Aves (“bird”): Eagles, hawks, sparrows, parrots

Birds are evolutionary engineering marvels. They are descended from dinosaurs, but are far from our idea of heavy, scaly reptiles. Of the specific adaptions that set them apart, most notable is flight—although some mammals can fly, birds take the prize for abundance in the skies. Many birds have hollow, lightweight skeletons and specially-designed wings to help them stay aloft. They also have feathers made of keratin that help them stay warm, attract mates, and improve navigation and aerodynamics in flight. In contrast to their dinosaur ancestors, they lack true teeth and have replaced them with specialized beaks and bills.

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The body of the brown pelican is protected from impact during plunge-diving thanks to subcutaneous air-sacs.

To learn more about pelican plunge-diving and how they manage impact, check out this video from KQED Deep Look.

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Image: Alan and Elaine Wilson /

Pacific Brown Pelican , Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California

Image: Alan and Elaine Wilson /

Pacific Brown Pelican , Cove Cliffs, San Diego La Jolla Underwater Park (Ecological Reserve), La Jolla, California

Last Updated April 26, 2017

References

“Several species of pelicans, boobies, and gannets have extensive subcutaneous air sacs.^6,18 In the plunge-diving brown pelicans these air sacs are thought to serve as shock absorbers to decrease the impact of hitting water from great heights.⁶” (Fowler and Miller 2003:118)

Book

Zoo and Wild Animal Medicine

01/01/2003 | Miller RE; Fowler M

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