Because a bird can eliminate heavy metals in its feathers and because feathers can be collected non-invasively and stored indefinitely, down feathers can be used to check for evidence of metal contamination in the bird's environment.
As your eyes follow the gondola into the distance, you may wonder, perhaps for a moment, if the swan will turn back its long neck and smooth down some ruffled feathers.
Under their nearly impenetrable coat of contour feathers lies a dense layer of soft, fluffy feathers called down, which may be up to two thirds of an inch [1.7 cm] thick and cover most of the duck’s body.
This new crib- death awareness program warns parents against laying the baby down to sleep on its stomach, using a large feather bed or a soft mattress, smoking during pregnancy, and exposing the newborn to tobacco smoke.
“Heavy metals present in the environment of the habitat enter the feathers, and remain even after [the feathers] are shed,” explains New Delhi’s Gobar Times, a supplement to Down to Earth magazine.
At the same time, the feathers spread across the bodies of dinosaurs, turning from sparse patches of fuzz into dense plumage, which even extended down to their legs.