Feathers
Birds are the only
animals with feathers. Feathers are light, flexible, strong, and durable,
and they help birds in many different ways.
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Feathers help some birds fly.
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Their coloration helps camouflage the birds,
so their predators won't see them.
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The color of the feathers helps female
birds protect their young.
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Male birds often use their brighter feathers
in courtship to find a mate.
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Feathers can insulate or protect birds
that live in the desert from sunburn and heat and protect and insulate
birds that live in cold areas of the world from the cold.
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Feathers, along with oil glands,
help keep some water birds water resistant and/or waterproof.
Not all the feathers
on a bird are the same. A bird has different kinds of feathers. On its
body are contour feathers. They help keep the body surfaces
smooth so that air flows easily across the wings, back, and underside.
Close to its skin
it has down feathers. They are short and fuzzy and provide
insulation for the bird's body.
On the tail are tail
feathers. They may be long and colorful and may have a square tip.
They are used sometimes in courtship or communication or act as a rudder
for the bird and help it brake.
Flight feathers
are on the bird's wings. They have a unique structure. They are concave
on the underside. The shaft is off center. Hundreds or even thousands
of very slender threads called barbs are arranged on each side of the shaft
of the feather. Then each barb has many tiny hooks. These hooks hold neighboring
barbs together. A bird can zip and unzip its flight feathers. When it is
preening,
a
bird uses its beak and unzips its feather to remove the dirt particles.
Then it zips them up again. Flight feathers must be zipped shut so that
air pressing against them will lift the bird up.
unzipped
zipped
Can you identify
what kind of feathers these are?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Sometimes feathers
get too ruffled to be repaired by preening. So when feathers are fully
grown, the bird periodically (at least once a year) loses or sheds them.
This is called moulting. Most birds lose only a few feathers
at a time, so that they are never completely without their necessary covering
of feathers.
All birds have feathers
but not all birds fly. The rheas at the Brandywine Zoo cannot fly.
This is what rhea feathers look like:
Can you guess one reason why it would
be hard for rheas to fly?
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