They have 14 cervical vertebrae instead of 7 like we do. They’re coiled like a spring and surrounded with air pockets and blood vessels to allow extreme rotation without choking themselves out or hurting themselves.
Why do they do that:
Owl eyes aren’t spherical, they’re shaped like a light bulb with the big part on the inside of their head, so there’s no room for the eyes themselves to move, so if they want to look anywhere but straight ahead, they need to move their entire head.
They also see with their ears as much or more than their eyes. Their faces are parabolic to act as a big sounds collector and one ear is higher than the other in a lot of owl species to generate a 3D mental image of the sound, somewhat like Daredevil. This is how they “see” in the absence of light, or under leaves or snow to find prey.
The rotation like this photo, or if you’ve seen them bobbing and weaving their head is just them fine tuning and really trying to get finer details on that sound map, getting really precise readings in whatever sound they’re investigating.
Why can they do that?
Why can they:
They have 14 cervical vertebrae instead of 7 like we do. They’re coiled like a spring and surrounded with air pockets and blood vessels to allow extreme rotation without choking themselves out or hurting themselves.
Why do they do that:
Owl eyes aren’t spherical, they’re shaped like a light bulb with the big part on the inside of their head, so there’s no room for the eyes themselves to move, so if they want to look anywhere but straight ahead, they need to move their entire head.
They also see with their ears as much or more than their eyes. Their faces are parabolic to act as a big sounds collector and one ear is higher than the other in a lot of owl species to generate a 3D mental image of the sound, somewhat like Daredevil. This is how they “see” in the absence of light, or under leaves or snow to find prey.
The rotation like this photo, or if you’ve seen them bobbing and weaving their head is just them fine tuning and really trying to get finer details on that sound map, getting really precise readings in whatever sound they’re investigating.
Thanks for the detailed explanation :)
My pleasure! They have some very amazing anatomy!
Ok. But why SHOULD they?
Answer: They shouldn’t. They shouldn’t do this. It’s unsettling.
I think it would be a good conversation starter or ice breaker 😮
First date: “Hi. My name is Johanna”. He just inverts his face slowly while holding eye contact.
I would lose it 🤣