biologizeable:

thesmileoctopus:

openlysinning:

electricsed:

becausebirds:

Yawning pelican. [imgur]

that’s so unnecessary for a bird that is already 400% ridiculous

What the fuck is this

@biologizeable EXPLAIN YOURSELF

I’m going to preface this by saying that I am not actually responsible for pelicans and their multitude of weirdnesses, so I will be explaining on behalf of someone else, not myself. Just…. to clarify.

SO, PELICANS. They’ve actually got the longest beak length of any bird (not beak-to-body ratio, of course, because hummingbirds have got that one under control) and their gular pouch, as it is called, is not just a floppy sack to scoop dinner up with – it’s actually got a super complicated network of muscles spread throughout. Mainly to force water in or out while scooping up fish or whatever. Like any functional body part, periodic stretching and moving of the muscles and skin is needed to keep it in excellent working order.

tl;dr this pelican is doing pelican yoga before going out and wreaking havoc