From: John R.
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 1994 10:37:44 -0800 (PST)
To: Jessica Morton
Subject: Re: beaks

In answer to Paris' question, the beaks on birds are limited to opening and closing. A bird's neck is a lot more flexible so they twist they whole head instead of twisting their beak. The beak on a bird consists of two sections, the upper and lower mandibles. The mouth is opened by the lower mandible being moved away from the upper mandible in a way similar to that of humans. Since birds don't have teeth, they don't grind up their food in the mouths so it really isn't necessary for them to be able to move their mouths as much as you or I can.

I hope this answers your question and if you have any more questions feel free to ask.

John R.
"Nothing is often better than something."

On Mon, 5 Dec 1994, Jessica Morton wrote:
> Dear John-
> We are finally sending out some of our bird research questions.
> Paris would like to ask you this:
> Can they move their beak and twist it like we can twist our mouths? > Thanks for taking the time to help us.