I found this on the internet, the website is listed below
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the US studied snowy, barred and great horned owls after their deaths from natural causes.They found that the vertebral artery enters the neck higher than in other birds, creating more slack.Unlike humans, owls were found to have small vessel connections between the carotid and vertebral arteries, allowing blood to be exchanged between the two blood vessels.This creates an uninterrupted blood flow to the brain, even if one route is blocked during extreme neck rotation.The adaptation gives the birds a huge range of vision without having to move their bodies and arouse detection by prey.The lack of similar adaptations in humans could explain why humans are more vulnerable to neck injury, the experts concluded. Below is my picture of a barn owl, its head turned 260 degrees (owls can't turn them 360, like everyone thinks) and upside down!
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the US studied snowy, barred and great horned owls after their deaths from natural causes.They found that the vertebral artery enters the neck higher than in other birds, creating more slack.Unlike humans, owls were found to have small vessel connections between the carotid and vertebral arteries, allowing blood to be exchanged between the two blood vessels.This creates an uninterrupted blood flow to the brain, even if one route is blocked during extreme neck rotation.The adaptation gives the birds a huge range of vision without having to move their bodies and arouse detection by prey.The lack of similar adaptations in humans could explain why humans are more vulnerable to neck injury, the experts concluded. Below is my picture of a barn owl, its head turned 260 degrees (owls can't turn them 360, like everyone thinks) and upside down!
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2271514/How-owls-turn-heads-Scientists-uncover-secrets.html#ixzz3iW3JdD5y
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