Ads
related to: body down feather
Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The down feather is considered to be the most "straightforward" of all feather types. [2] It has a short or vestigial rachis (shaft), few barbs, and barbules that lack hooks. [3] There are three types of down: natal down, body down and powder down. Natal down is the layer of down feathers that cover most birds at some point in their early ...
Some birds have a supply of powder down feathers that grow continuously, with small particles regularly breaking off from the ends of the barbules. These particles produce a powder that sifts through the feathers on the bird's body and acts as a waterproofing agent and a feather conditioner. Powder down has evolved independently in several taxa ...
body down The layer of small, fluffy down feathers that lie underneath the outer contour feathers on a bird's body. [51] Compare: natal down and powder down. breast The topographical region of a bird's external anatomy between the throat and the belly. [52] breeding plumage See alternate plumage. brood
Feather development occurs in the epidermal layer of the skin in birds.It is a complicated process involving many steps. Once the feathers are fully developed, there are six different types of feathers: contour, flight, down, filoplumes, semiplumes, and bristle feathers.
After hatching the chicks are dependent on getting warmed by the hen. Like all precocial birds, the young are fully covered by down feathers at hatching but are not able to maintain their body temperature which is 41 °C (106 °F) in birds. In cold and rainy weather the chicks need to get warmed by the hen every few minutes and all night.
There is a large body of evidence showing that dromaeosaurids were covered in feathers. Some dromaeosaurid fossils preserve long, pennaceous feathers on the hands and arms (remiges) and tail (rectrices), as well as shorter, down-like feathers covering the body.