A paper published last year in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface described a feather as a masterpiece of engineering, one comprising nine orders of magnitude, from the nanoscale to the meter ...

Feather mites are microscopic arthropods that inhabit the plumage and skin of birds, occupying specific microhabitats on their hosts. These mites exhibit extraordinary morphological diversity and host ...

The Wright Brothers studied bird flight before they designed the first airplane. Now modern aircraft fly higher and faster than any bird, yet no manufactured device matches the graceful movements and ...

"The introductory chapters give a detailed overview of the feather - how feathers developed, the parts of a single feather, and the variety of types of feathers on a bird. In the feather ...

More than 99% of birds can fly. But that still leaves many species that evolved to be flightless, including penguins, ostriches, and kiwi birds. In a new study in the journal Evolution, researchers ...

A research group led by Dr. Tsukasa Waki of Toho University and Professor Satoshi Shimanono of Hosei University discovered a new mite species, Metanalges agachi, which was thought to clean the ...

An expedition into the jungle of New Guinea has resulted in the discovery of two new species of poisonous birds. Genetic changes in these bird species have allowed them to carry a powerful neurotoxin.

Fossilized feathers of an extinct bird show it molted differently than modern birds. The prehistoric bird lost its feathers all at once, while many modern birds molt in waves. Regrowing feathers uses ...

Surveys of several sites, including Nepal’s Chitwan National Park, show that the lesser necklaced laughingthrush may be physically mimicking a larger species, the greater necklaced laughingthrush, for ...