national aviary >> the feather

It's what makes a bird a bird. It's perfect for flying, is great for keeping warm, and comes in so many colors and patterns. Maybe the most amazing thing about feathers is that they're made out of the same stuff as your toenails.

BECOMING A BIRD
Reptiles have some traits, birds have others. Sort them out to discover how birds evolved from dinosaurs.

DEAD OR ALIVE
Dinosaurs are all extinct. So is the dodo. Meet some of the birds that only exist as fossils or stuffed specimens.

DEBATE
Choose from one of three topics to debate with your classmates.

The down filling in down comforters or down jackets is feathers. Both a polar bear's fur and a penguin's down feathers are great insulators, allowing these animals to survive in very cold conditions.

Down feathers don't have the barbules that allow a feather to "zip up" so instead of holding a firm shape, down feathers are fluffy. This makes them great insulators, because they trap air in their tiny spaces.

Most chicks are born covered in down, but even adults keep some down feathers on their body, underneath other feathers.

These contour-shaped feathers are designed for flight. Each barb of the main shaft has barbules that allow it to zip up with the barb next to it. So, the feather makes a stiff, light airfoil. Birds preen to "close the zippers" so that they can fly efficiently.

The close-up above shows how the barbules on flight feathers interlock to make a single strong surface that is still incredibly light.

Compare the two feather at left. The white one belongs to a flightless bird (a rhea). It doesn't have any barbules, so it looks more like a down feather than a flight feather.

A feather is a great billboard for attracting mates. Color and pattern are also useful for camoflage which helps some birds avoid predators and helps others sneak up on their prey. A peacock's tails and deer's antlers do the same job to attract a mate.

Not all colored feathers are actually colored. The pheasant feather at left is a beautiful pattern made of different colored pigment.

But the parrot feather above isn't actually blue! It gets its color from the way light hits it and refracts off it – the same way colors appear on soap bubbles.