Re: OT cats & hummingbirds, dinosaur books

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

Quoting Lora Nelson <loranelson@yahoo.com>:

> I was wondering if anybody could tell me if hummingbirds have been known to
> kill a cat with driving their beaks through the skull and into the brain.

This sounds highly unlikely. Perhaps woodpeckers have the necessary equipment 
to drive a beak 
through a skull, but somehow I doubt that hummingbirds would have evolved such 
cranial strength 
just to feed on nectar.

I also doubt that hummingbirds have enough mass, or hindleg gripping power, to 
achieve skull 
penetration. More likely any attempt would see the hummingbird bounce off the 
cat's head.

Birds such as starlings certainly can penetrate each other's brains during 
fights, but using their foot 
claws rather than their beaks, and usually via each other's eye sockets. I 
suspect starling brain 
cases are also a lot thinner than that of a cat. It's not unusual to find a 
pair of dead starlings locked 
together, each having penetrated the other's brain.

-- 
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Dann Pigdon
GIS / Archaeologist              http://geo_cities.com/dannsdinosaurs
Melbourne, Australia             http://heretichides.soffiles.com
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