For birds, black feathers provide certain flight advantages. That's because black feathers contain more pigment-packed melanosomes than do feathers of other colors, and melanosomes can bind with ...

Recent research delving into the intricate world of bird feathers has uncovered a fascinating discovery: a distinct set of feather rules governing flight capabilities. This breakthrough sheds light on ...

Experts say wing clipping, a common practice in some countries to impair a bird's flying ability, is no longer recommended as ...

Birds can fly—at least, most of them can. Flightless birds like penguins and ostriches have evolved lifestyles that don't require flight. However, there's a lot that scientists don't know about how ...

Flight feathers are amazing evolutionary innovations that allowed birds to conquer the sky. A study led by Matthew Towers (University of Sheffield, UK) and Marian Ros (University of Cantabria, Spain) ...

Back in the day, when I hunted ruffed grouse with my father, we often shot at the same bird more than once. That's because we were mediocre marksmen at best, often missing the bird with the first ...

The asymmetrical flight feathers of their wings are among the most distinctive features of living birds. But how are these feathers actually constructed, and when did they first appear in evolutionary ...

Sometimes, a ruffle of feathers can say more about a bird’s situation than its chirps, coos and caws. Take the crested pigeon. Its mere act of taking frantic flight is enough to alert its flock of ...

Researchers have performed molecular analysis on fossil feathers from a small, feathered dinosaur from the Jurassic. Their research could aid scientists in pinpointing when feathers evolved the ...

SapceShipTwo glides to a landing at the Mojave Air and Space Port May 1 after testing its feather system. Credit: Virgin Galactic WASHINGTON — Virgin Galactic said May 1 it successfully tested the ...