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Melanin Makes Feathers Stronger
Melanin helps protect birds’ essential flight feathers
© Matthew Paulson
Many species have black feathers on the trailing edge of their wings, regardless of what color most of their feathers are. Birds as different as gulls, pelicans, storks, and flamingos all have black-tipped wings. These flight feathers are rich in a pigment called melanin. But melanin doesn’t just provide color. It also helps make feathers stronger. Feathers with melanin have a tougher layer of keratin, the same substance found in human fingernails, compared to feathers without. So the black feathers actually help protect a wing from wear and tear.
BirdNote®
Melanin Makes Feathers Stronger
Written by Conor Gearin
This is BirdNote.
[Ring-billed Gull calls]
If you take a look at birds’ wings, you might notice a pattern. Many species have black feathers on the trailing edge of their wings, regardless of what color most of their feathers are. Birds as different as gulls, pelicans, storks, and flamingos all have black-tipped wings.
[American Flamingo flock calls]
These flight feathers are rich in a pigment called melanin. But melanin doesn’t just provide color. It also helps make feathers stronger. Feathers with melanin have a tougher layer of keratin — the same substance found in human fingernails — compared to feathers without. So the black feathers actually help protect a wing from wear and tear.
That’s especially useful on the edge of a birds’ wing, where air is rushing past during flight. Melanin helps the wing stay aerodynamic and efficient for birds so they can gather food, escape from predators, and complete their long migratory journeys.
[Red-necked Phalarope flock calls]
While it takes energy to produce melanin, it saves birds the trouble of replacing feather after feather when traveling thousands of miles.
[Red-necked Phalarope flock calls]
Learn more about the pigments that bring color to bird feathers on our website, BirdNote dot org. I’m Michael Stein.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Content Director: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Ring-billed Gull ML214918231 recorded by Jeff Ellerbusch, American Flamingo ML172484 recorded by Gerrit Vyn, and Red-necked Phalarope ML103332941 recorded by Andrew Spencer.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote March 2022
Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# feather-08-2023-03-23 feather-08
Reference:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241372715_Melanin_and_the_Abra…
https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/how-birds-make-colorful-feathers/
https://www.audubon.org/news/what-makes-bird-feathers-so-colorfully-fab…
https://europepmc.org/article/cba/607575
Conor Gearin
Writer