Birds use their feathers for touch

Post Reply New Topic

Here's another interesting discovery:

Research findings show that birds use their feathers for touch, using them to feel their surroundings just as cats use their whiskers.
Very interesting, also for me since I also study the sense of touch

Here's the news article:
BBC - Earth News - Auklets and penguins: birds use feathers 'to touch'

That's very cool! Thanks for posting!

Birds of prey have finger like feathers that stick out on the wing tips. They are movable, and changing they can feel the air change, and just glide around for hours on currents and uplifts.

It is interesting for a number of reasons.

Feathers seem to be essentially overgrown/overlapping reptile scales.

Reptiles can feel through their skin. So its interestng that birds retain the ability to feel through their feathers.

Feathers make great insulation, but apparently they are also good sensory organs.
So its becoming increasingly clear that feathers had many uses for the ground bound ancestors of birds long before birds exploited feathers as airfoils for flight.