Feathers, Fun, and Food: A Lighthearted Dive into Birds

It may be well-known that hope is the thing with feathers, but how much is known about feathers themselves? Turns out, plenty! From shrub grouses to shuttlecocks and all the pea-babies (diminutive for peacocks, definitely for sure) in between, come soar on the delightfully complex wings of knowledge with us!

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[Truth or Fail]

Dermestid beetles on dino feather in amber

https://www.science.org/content/article/feathered-dinosaurs-discovered

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/986124

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/lice-filled-dinosaur-feathers-found-trapped-100-million-year-old-amber-180973727/

https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/dermestid-beetles-feasted-on-dinosaur-feathers

Badminton shuttlecock dino-birdie 

https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/dinosaurs-ancient-fossils/liaoning-diorama/a-feathered-tyrant

https://australian.museum/learn/dinosaurs/fact-sheets/dilong-paradoxus/

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1030468

Roboduck with dino feathers

https://www.audubon.org/news/new-aquatic-dinosaur-find-strange-and-startling-avian-hodgepodge

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2414147-dinosaurs-evolved-feathers-to-scare-prey-suggests-robot-experiment/

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/02/robo-dinosaur-scares-grasshoppers-to-shed-light-on-why-dinos-evolved-feathers/

[Trivia Question]

Speed of peacock tail feather shaking to signal interest to mates

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0152759

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0207247

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/12/peacock-crests-are-vibration-sensors/578656/

https://gizmodo.com/the-physics-of-peacock-tail-feathers-is-even-more-dazzl-1772653586

[Fact Off]

Turning waste chicken feathers into a flavorless, edible meat paste

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/animals-slaughtered-for-meat?time=latest

https://phys.org/news/2017-09-bird-feathers-food.html

https://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=9055668&fileOId=9055675

https://www.thechemicalengineer.com/news/lund-team-turns-chicken-feathers-into-food/

https://www.rechargenews.com/energy-transition/chicken-feathers-can-help-generate-clean-energy-say-researchers/2-1-1539841?zephr_sso_ott=oZW4Dr

Male sandgrouse belly feathers soak up water to carry back to their babies

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2022.0878

https://academic.oup.com/condor/article/69/4/323/5229138

https://ebird.org/species/namsan1

[Ask the Science Couch]

Feather growth and development (and altricial vs. precocial baby birds)

https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/feathers-article/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4380223/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6917565/

[Butt One More Thing]

Fright molt: losing tail feathers as an antipredator adaptation

https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/17/6/1046/319763