Hummingbirds' rainbow colors come from pancake-shaped structures in their feathers
Posted by Douglas douglas@hummingbirdmarket.com on
From Evolution © 2020 The Society for the Study of Evolution.
Signal evolution and morphological complexity in hummingbirds
Hummingbirds are some of the most brightly-colored things in the entire world. Their iridescent feathers reflect light in a way that other birds can't match, and scientists weren't sure what made hummingbirds special. But a new study shows that while hummingbird feathers have the same basic makeup as other birds', the special shape of their pigment-containing structures enables them to reflect a rainbow of light.