Clik here to view.
Feather color linked to structures similar to beer foam
Yale researchers have discovered that the nanostructures that produce some birds’ brightly colored plumage, such as the blue feathers of the male Eastern Bluebird, have a sponge-like structure that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
He’s cute, but will he care for the kids?
Male peacock’s robust display attracts mates (Credit: National Geographic Society)YALE (US)—Bright feathers and fetching displays are par for the course in the animal kingdom’s version of the dating...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Clues to feather’s technicolor past
Researchers have discovered evidence that prehistoric feather fossils from in Germany were once vividly iridescent. The finding could help scientists reconstruct the colorful features of other...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bird vibrates feathers to hum love song
The male club-winged manakin, a rare South American bird, uses specialized wing feathers that resonate as a unit at 1500 Hertz to create the violin-like note close to an F-sharp. This weak resonance...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Feathered dinosaur in full color
A water color illustration of Anchiornis huxleyi, an extinct, non-avian dinosaur that sported a generally gray body, a reddish-brown, Mohawk-like crest and facial speckles, and white feathers on its...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Birds see colors invisible to humans
YALE (US) — Birds’ plumage has changed from dull to brilliant over millions of years, but the bright hues humans see are only a fraction of what birds see.“Our clothes were pretty drab before the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rigid feathers suggest dinosaur could fly
BROWN (US) — Researchers say the winged dinosaurs Archaeopteryx had rigid black feathers, a finding that suggests that they could fly.Since its discovery 150 years ago, scientists have puzzled over...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bird’s wing is built for love, not flight
CORNELL (US) — A small bird found in the forests of Ecuador and Colombia has a very rare wing structure that allows the males to make sounds to woo mates.Researchers first reported in 2005 on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
For ancient birds, feathers were a drag
YALE (US) — Prehistoric birds were far less versatile at flying than their modern descendents, a new study of their feathers shows.Researchers examined fossils of two types of primitive avians—close...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lock in ‘peacock’ color for screen displays
U. MICHIGAN (US) — Engineers trying to mimic the peacocks’ color mechanism for screens have locked in structural color, which is made with texture rather than chemicals.In a peacock’s mother-of-pearl...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Turning into fossils distorted dino plumage
YALE (US) — Experiments suggest that fossil birds and dinosaurs may have had different colored feathers than scientists thought. Geological processes can affect evidence of the original colors of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Feather pigments hint at stem cell ‘fates’
USC (US) — To understand how stem cells turn into certain tissue patterns and shapes, researchers looked at the sources of complex pigment patterns in feathers. The researchers uncovered several...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Feathered dinosaur in full color
A water color illustration of Anchiornis huxleyi, an extinct, non-avian dinosaur that sported a generally gray body, a reddish-brown, Mohawk-like crest and facial speckles, and white feathers on its...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Birds with bright ‘caps’ make better moms
U. YORK (UK) — Female blue tits whose crowns reflect lots of UV light are more successful at raising young than drabber birds are, report researchers. Unlike humans, birds can see ultraviolet (UV)...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Female birds’ choices prevent species divide
Mate choices among female red-backed fairywrens seem to be keeping the species from splitting into two. The female fairywrens—common, chickadee-sized Australian birds—pair off with both orange- and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
She’s staring at his legs, not his long peacock feathers
To find out how courting peacocks get noticed by females, researchers put tiny head-cams on peahens and tracked their eye movements. “Surprisingly, the peahens are looking at the lowest edge of tail...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Colors of fuzzy dinosaurs remain mysterious
The colors of feathered dinosaurs are easier for scientists to decipher than those of their fuzzy counterparts, new research suggests. In a survey comparing the hair, skin, fuzz, and feathers of living...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tail feathers suggest new dinosaur may have taken flight
A new species of a feathered raptorial dinosaur, Changyuraptor yangi, found in China helps explain the role of long tail feathers in flight evolution. The new species is a 125 million-year-old dinosaur...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How 60 of the weirdest birds are related
A family called cotingas include some of the loudest, weirdest-looking, brightest, least-understood birds on the planet. Some have bulbous crests, long fleshy wattles, or Elvis-worthy pompadours....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Feathers have ‘custom’ shafts for flight
The shafts of feathers are made of a multi-layered fibrous composite material—a lot like carbon fiber—that lets the feather bend and twist in flight. Since their appearance more than 150 million years...
View Article
