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#115602 11/10/03 08:49 PM
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wwh Offline OP
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Dear WW and Faldage: Here is a sensational URL about bird vision. I confess I haven't read it all yet.
http://www.biology.eku.edu/RITCHISO/birdbrain2.html


#115603 11/10/03 09:00 PM
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Just a brief glance looks fascinating. Thanks, Dr Bill.


#115604 11/10/03 11:48 PM
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I'd just like to understand how those fast fliers navigate through the woods so quickly without apparently hitting themselves in the head with so many branches. I sure as heck have problems sometimes woods navigating at a lethargic pace.


#115605 11/11/03 12:18 AM
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another great site, Bill! thanks!



formerly known as etaoin...
#115606 11/11/03 01:59 AM
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wwh Offline OP
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Dear WW:One of the birds' secrets is the fact that their nerve pathways are relatively short. It takes an appreciable fraction of a second for nerve impulse to travel from brain to an extremity, so small animals can react much sooner than humans can.
I think the big dynasaurs must have had to wait a week for message from brain to reach their hind legs.
Remember the old parlor trick of telling a kid he can have a dollar hung vertically between his thumb and index finger, if he can close them before dollar drops through them? Kids look very much amazed.


#115607 11/11/03 10:40 PM
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Oh, many thanks, wwh, for that explanation. I have often wondered how in the world birds navigated so quickly through dense woods. The short nerve pathway does make some sense as a theory, so thanks for giving me that fodder to ponder!



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