Latest Feather Stories
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology An international team lead by the University of Granada has found that female sparrows will invest more energy into laying eggs according to the male's ability to fill the nest with feathers which serve to insulate the chicks from the cold and keep them alive. Scientists from the University of Granada, in collaboration with the South African University of the Witwatersrand and the Percy FitzPatrick Institute at the University of Cape...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online When you inspect the legs of most birds you will find everything from the knee down is scaly rather than feathery. There is an exception to this rule however. Some birds of prey, such as eagles, have more feathering below the knee extending down to the feet. As for those with scaly legs, it is a remnant of their ancestry, when birds evolved from small two-legged dinosaurs millions of years ago. For the most part, experts...
Nest diet has big impact on attractiveness of hihi birds Published today by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and University of Cambridge, the study reveals that male hihi birds develop more colorful and attractive breeding feathers if they receive a nest diet rich in carotenoids – natural pigments found mainly in fruit and vegetables. Scientists looked at the effects of newborn nutrition on male plumage in the rare New Zealand hihi (Notiomystis concta) over the course of a year....
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online A recently discovered dinosaur fossil believed to pre-date those from which birds were believed to have evolved could drastically change current theories on the origins of flight, according to a new UK study. According to BBC News, the fossil comes from a feathered-but-flightless dinosaur that was less than a foot in length and lived approximately 140 million years ago. The creature, which has been dubbed the Eosinopteryx, would...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online An international team of paleontologists, including Dr. Luis Chiappe, Director of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles Country's Dinosaur Institute has discovered a definitive way to determine the sex of an avian dinosaur species. The 125-million-year-old Mesozoic bird, Confuciusornis sanctus, had remarkable differences in plumage between specimens. Some had almost body length ornamental tail feathers, while others had none....
Alan McStravick for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online This week University of Alberta researchers examining the fossilized remains of dinosaur tail bones made what appears to be a startling discovery. Our modern day birds like the turkey and the peacock, which often use their dazzling plumage to attract a mate, may be channeling their long-departed ancestors: the feathered dinosaurs. This discovery was not made in a single find, however. Scott Persons, a paleontologist at the...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online More evidence has emerged, published in the journal Current Biology, claiming birds are the descendants of dinosaurs. The prehistoric Archaeopteryx and bird-like dinosaurs before them had a more primitive version of a wing, according to the recent findings. Scientists are piecing together how the wing evolved, lending to evidence that gliding dinosaurs spent much of their days in the trees. "Before, it seemed that we had more...
[ Watch the Video: Fossils of First Feathered Dinosaurs from North America Found ] April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Remember the scene in the original Jurassic Park movie when the giant ostrich-like dinosaurs run from an enraged Tyrannosaurus rex? The scaly, fleet-footed animals moved like a flock of birds, gracefully wheeling across the landscape. A new study, recently published in the journal Science, reveals that this depiction of the bird-mimic dinosaurs...
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Neanderthal men likely adorned themselves with bird feathers, a new study suggests. The researchers believe the feathers were stripped from the remains of birds and worn as decorative ornaments or jewelry, a theory that further suggests early hominids had a strong sense of tradition and culture. The scientists studied bird bones found at European sites used by Neanderthal man, and discovered that bird wings containing large...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online One of the most complete dinosaur fossils ever discovered suggests that feathered dinosaurs were more prevalent than previously thought and could have been the norm, not the exception. The 150 million-year-old fossil found in northern Bavaria shows that the dinosaur had down-like feathers over parts of its front and back as well on its tail. Scientists dubbed the creature Sciurumimus albersdoerferi after "Scirius”, the scientific...
Latest Feather Reference Libraries
The rosy feather star (Antedon bifida) is a species of crinoid that can be found in northwestern waters of Europe. Its range extends from Portugal in the south to the Shetland Islands and includes Venezuela, West Africa, Algeria, and Tunisia. This species resides at an average depth of 650 feet, although it can occasionally be found in deeper waters. The rosy feather star has a disc shaped body that is concave and holds ten arms that resemble a fern. These arms can grow to be ten inches...
The Rosy feather star is a species of starfish in the Antedonidae family. It is found in North West Europe along the coast. The specific area of the coast is between the Shetland Islands south to Portugal. There have been sightings in Algeria, Tunisia, West Africa and Venezuela. The Western and Eastern coasts of the British Isles has a climate that promotes the growth of the Antedon bifida. It grows between the low tide mark and 650 feet deeper. Clinging to rocks, seaweed and mollusks, it...
The Giant Feather Duster Worm (Eudistylia polymorpha) is a species of marine polychaete worm of the Sabellidae family. Its range extends along the western coast of North America, from Alaska to California. It is most commonly found in the intertidal zone in tide pools and in the neritic (coastal) zone at depths up to 1,375 feet. It is often found in groups along rocks, reefs, pilings, wharves and marinas. Its common name comes from the crown of tentacles extended when the animal is under...
Caudipteryx, meaning "tail feather", is a genus of small theropod dinosaur that lived during the Aptian Age of the Early Cretaceous Period (124 million years ago). There are two species known, C. zoui (described 1998) and C. dongi. (described 2000). It was first discovered in 1997 in the Yixian Formation of the Sihetun area of Liaoning Province, northeastern China. The genus appears to have been fairly common, though isolated to the small region where it has been found. This region was also...
The Red-shouldered Macaw (Diopsittaca nobilis), also known as the Noble Macaw, Long-wing Macaw, and Hahn's Macaw, is a species of parrot native to Venezuela, the Guianas, Bolivia, Brazil, and far south-eastern Peru. It is found mostly in tropical lowlands, savannah and swamplands. This is not considered an endangered species, although populations in the wild have declined due to habitat loss. Though not considered endangered, it is illegal to export wild caught birds of this species. The...
