Why are headless chickens able to maintain balance

Subject: Why are headless chickens able to maintain balance

Date: Thu Mar 15 17:32:01 2001
Posted by Jacob
Grade level: grad (science) School: No school entered.
City: Bellevue State/Province: WA Country: US
Area of science: Anatomy
ID: 984695521.An

Message:


This question came up at work after I mentioned my family had slaughtered chickens when I 
was a kid, and how funny it was that headless chickens run around for a few seconds. Our 
reasoning goes: "If a human lost its head and had the nerve impulses to run around, it would 
just fall over because balance is maintained by the (now unattached) ears. Why is a chicken 
any different?" Kind of a strange question - just curious!

Re: Why are headless chickens able to maintain balance

Current Queue | Current Queue for Anatomy | Anatomy archives

Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Anatomy.