You are able to gift 5 more articles this month. Anyone can access the link you share with no account required. Learn more. A down feather illustrates the varied assortment of barbs that allow it to ...

One of the remarkable abilities that birds possess is their ability to regenerate the feathers that they shed. Unlike human hair and nails, feathers consist of keratin and do not heal once damaged.

Birds exhibit a wide variety of fascinating nesting and offspring-rearing behaviors throughout their lifecycle. Against the odds, they protect and guide their young from hatching to leaving the nest ...

A Fork-tailed Flycatcher. Credit: Valentina Gómez-Bahamón, Field Museum Bird feathers have many different functions. Softer down keeps a bird warm and stiffer wing feathers are used for flight.

Emperor penguins live comfortably in frigid Antarctic conditions thanks to a highly specialized feather coat. Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego plucked away the ...