birding-aus boobies

To:
Subject:	birding-aus boobies
From:	"Keith Betton" <>
Date:	Wed, 11 Aug 1999 09:01:17 +0100

Hi Roy

Yes gannets and boobies do have skull protection.  To quote from 
the New Dictionary of Birds (Campbell & Lack)....

"Gannets and boobies feed by plunging, sometimes from over 30m. 
 As they are large birds, their momentum on striking the surface is 
considerable, and they show special adaptations to prevent 
damage on impact, notably strengthening of the skull, imperforate 
external nares and a remarkable system of subcutaneous air-sacs 
which are thought to be primarily shock-absorbing."

Regards
Keith Betton
(London UK)
To unsubscribe from this list, please send a message to

Include ONLY "unsubscribe birding-aus" in the message body (without the
quotes)

<Prev in Thread]	Current Thread	[Next in Thread>
birding-aus boobies, sonnenburg birding-aus boobies, Keith Betton <=

Previous by Date:	birding-aus ACT migrations, Nick
Next by Date:	Re: birding-aus Red wattlebirds, Muir Environmental
Previous by Thread:	birding-aus boobies, sonnenburg
Next by Thread:	birding-aus Colombia 1999 ,part 1(long), John Penhallurick
Indexes:	[Date] [Thread] [Top] [All Lists]

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU