Specialized Beaks for Tearing Flesh

Raptors have unique, hooked beaks that are specially designed for tearing apart the flesh of their prey. A sharp, curved beak allows them to rip through skin, muscle, and bones. For example, a hawk’s beak can rip open the very tough hide of a squirrel. Hawk beaks have a curve called "festoon" (like kitchen shears, or a garland shape) that stops the meat from sliding away from the sharp, cutting front edges made of keratin. The back corner of the mouth is fleshy ad has no cutting edges. Falcons have a can opener shaped notch known as tomial tooth on the upper mandibule, that lets them dispatch their prey (it fits well in the cervical vertebrae of a bird's neck for example) and provides leverage to break the long bones in smaller pieces. Other birds have a tomial tooth as well, parrots are a well-known examples, but shrikes and kites have them as well.

Come see these amazing beaks at work in person in our falconry experiences!

Festoon on Liath's 's beak, left. Beak at work, right.

Tomial tooth on young Ali's beak, left. Tomial tooth breaking bones, right.

All photos were taken by George Adkins during our Falconry Experiences in La Jolla. Thank you George!!!