Re: mighty beak

[Betty Cunningham <bettyc@flyinggoat.com>]

perhsp the knob was for pulling the stinky part off of ginko berries?

-Betty Cunningham

bert.dol@philips.com wrote:

> Last friday I went to the Teylers museum in Haarlem (the Netherlands) with my 
> friend Ilja Nieuwland. We were going there to look at the Archie over there, 
> but I was very impressed by the beak they have of Phorosrhacus longissimus 
> (forgive me any
> misspellings - monday is never my best day). I noticed something which struck 
> me as strange and we could not find a logical or any explanation for it. When 
> you look at the end of the beak (just before it turns into the hook) you see 
> a little knob on the
> upper part of the beak. The lower beak has a little 'hole' where the knob 
> would normally touch the beak when it would be closed. Does anyone have any 
> clue what this little knob is and what it's function might be? 
Are there any living birds which have these kind of knobs?


-- 
Flying Goat Graphics
http://www.flyinggoat.com
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