Reading Thor Hanson’s Feathers on my lunch break today, and ran across this tidbit that I might have known at one point, but had certainly forgotten by now: The weight of the feathers on a bird’s body “exceed[s] the dry weight of the bird’s skeleton by two to one in most species.” (36) That’s right. The feathers weigh twice as much as the bones. Should we update the saying to lighter than a bird bone?
The Naturalist's Eye
Birds and more
