© 2026 KUNR
Illustration of rolling hills with occasional trees and a radio tower.
Serving Northern Nevada and the Eastern Sierra
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Our fall fund drive is happening now, and donations made to KUNR on Oct. 21 and 22 will go twice as far in supporting our collegiate reporting interns from the Reynolds School of Journalism.

Woodpeckers engage their whole bodies to drill wood

A red-bellied woodpecker stands in a tree Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Milford, Ohio. (Joshua A. Bickel/AP)
Joshua A. Bickel/AP
A red-bellied woodpecker stands in a tree Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Milford, Ohio. (Joshua A. Bickel/AP)

Click here for the original audio.

A new study shows how woodpeckers engage muscles throughout their entire bodies and coordinate their breaths, to drill into wood.

In March, Here & Now‘s Scott Tong spoke with Nicholas Antonson, post-doctorate fellow at Brown University’s Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, and lead author of a paper on this research in Experimental Biology.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2026 WBUR

Here & Now Newsroom