How Owls Can Rotate Their Heads Without Injury

Our Backyard Screech Owl Demonstrates His Ability To Rotate His Head 270 Degrees

The big breaking news on the "Owl Front" this past week was scientific documentation of how Owls can rotate their heads without injury announced in a press release from Johns Hopkins University. It has long been observed that Owls have the unique ability to rotate their heads way beyond what looks to be healthy. Owls can rotate their heads approximately 270 degrees, a feat that is ably demonstrated by our very own Backyard Screech Owls in the video above. Claims have been made that owls can rotate their heads farther, even up to 360 degrees a la the "Exorcist".  That's obviously impossible and if you look at these videos purporting greater rotation you can see subtle indications that the owls have changed feet position an/or turned their lower body at the same time to achieve what looks like greater than 270 degree rotation. In the video above you see the entire owl including the feet firmly anchored and the lower body completely still - the rotating is an amazing feat.

I'm not sure why people aren't satisfied with 270 degrees - that's a lot - the typical human can only rotate their head about 70 degrees - any more and extreme pain and injury will result. Owls have 14 cervical vertebrae to our 7, but the real trick to the amazing head turn is in adaptations to the blood vessels in the neck that keep them from tearing and causing immediate death. Johns Hopkins researchers have produced a large schematic poster illustrating Owls amazing ability to turn their heads.  Smithsonian.com has a concise article on the subject. Check out the 
NPR story on: How Owls Spin Their Heads Without Tearing Arteries.

Johns Hopkins/National Science Foundation