Woodpecker

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/woodpecker

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name?Picidae
2. What does a woodpecker use its beak for?A woodpecker’s beak is strong and chisel‑like, made to drill into wood to find insects and build a nest.
3. How do woodpeckers avoid hurting their brains when they drum?They have a special skull with extra air spaces and a shock‑absorbing hyoid bone that protects the brain from the impact of pecking.

Hyoid Apparatus: A complex system of bones and cartilage supporting the tongue, which in woodpeckers wraps around the skull for shock absorption.
Keystone Species: A species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance.
Arboreal: Living in or adapted to living in trees.
Phylogenetic Diversity: The evolutionary history and relationships among species or groups of organisms.