Owls Survive 270-Degree Turns

Owls cannot move their eyes in their sockets, so they must turn their heads to change their view. Evolution armed them with 14 neck vertebrae and a network of backup arteries to keep blood flowing when they twist. They also have blood vessels that can swell like sponges, which helps regulate circulation and reduce stroke risk during extreme movement. Together, those adaptations let an owl rotate its head up to about 270 degrees without cutting off its brain’s blood supply.

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