Latest Feather Stories
A Chinese wedding dress factory said eight workers spent 40 days creating a $1.5 million dress from 2,009 peacock feathers. The factory in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, said the dress also includes a bodice featuring brocade and Suzhou embroidery, the Daily Mail reported Monday. Male peacocks each shed an average 200 feathers during an average year, meaning the makers of the dress would have needed to collect dropped feathers from more than 10 birds for a year to gather enough for the gown, the...
Some of the brightest colors in nature are created by tiny nanostructures with a structure similar to beer foam or a sponge, according to Yale University researchers.Most colors in nature"”from the color of our skin to the green of trees"”are produced by pigments. But the bright blue feathers found in many birds, such as Bluebirds and Blue Jays, are instead produced by nanostructures. Under an electron microscope, these structures look like sponges with air bubbles.Now an...
Scientists have discovered that a small dinosaur which lived 100 million years ago in northeastern China was covered with course, hairlike fuzz, suggesting that feathers may have evolved much earlier than previously believed. Although feathers and so-called "dinofuzz" have been previously identified in theropods, two-legged carnivores that are widely believed to be the ancestors of modern birds, the Chinese creature is only remotely related to theropods, and the hollow threads of its...
The top bird experts in the world are trying to identify what type of bird took down US Airways Flight 1549, which crashed in the Hudson River. Pieces of the wreckage are now in the hands of top investigators. The black boxes went to the National Transportation Safety Board, the engines to the manufacturer's experts, and a bird feather to a Smithsonian museum.Last year, a staff of four took in samples for 4,600 bird-plane collisions at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington....
Scientists believe they have gained new insights into determining the colors of 100 million-year-old fossilized plumage from dinosaurs.Researchers were able to determine the colors of ancient feathers found in Brazil displayed by "striking" bands of black and white, they reported in the journal Biology Letters.Before now, fossil experts were left with only a guess at the various colors exhibited by ancient birds and some dinosaurs. "It solves a conundrum," explained...
Researchers on Thursday said the largest study of bird genetics in history has uncovered some startling facts that could ruffle a few feathers in the avian evolutionary tree. The study found falcons share many similarities to hawks and eagles, but they are not as closely related as previously thought. Even vibrant hummingbirds, which buzz around during daytime, evolved from a drab-looking nocturnal bird called a nightjar.Researchers say even parrots and songbirds are closer cousins than once...
By Milius, Susan Iridescence could be pretty meaningful-or maybe just pretty Believe it or not, science has barely begun to fathom the peacock's tail. Subtle as a pink tuxedo, one mightthink. Bigflashything. Peahens love it. What's not to understand. Roslyn Dakin, though, has plenty of questions. There's the matter of choreography. Already this year she has left Queen's University in Kingston, Canada, to visit peacocks (the birds) in Los Angeles and New York. She has spent weeks collecting...
A manipulation of breast feather color results in higher testosterone levels for male barn swallowsIn the world of birds, where fancy can be as fleeting as flight, the color of the bird apparently has a profound effect on more than just its image. A new study of barn swallows reveals it also affects the bird's physiology.A team of researchers, including one from Arizona State University, found in an experiment that involved artificially coloring the breast feathers of male barn swallows the...
The chirps and beeps of hummingbirds at times come from their tails. Male Anna's hummingbirds — the West Coast's most common hummingbird — perform spectacular dive-bomber displays for females during breeding season, with their tail feathers vibrating like a reed in a clarinet as a result to make the sounds, scientists explained. "The Anna's hummingbird is the only hummingbird for which we know all the details, but there are a number of other species...
The source of the noise which the Anna's hummingbird emits has been a long-lived topic of debate among ornithologists. This particular species of hummingbird, which is native to the West Coast of the United States, makes a loud, brief chirp when he dives to impress female hummingbirds and entice them into mating. Christopher Clark and Teresa Feo of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California at Berkely decided to set up cameras and watch the hummingbird to find the...
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...
