Birds are remarkable in that they have skin, beaks, scales, and feathers, combining integumentary elements similar to those of mammals and reptiles. These diverse body-covering structures play crucial roles in bird survival, providing protection, grip, warmth, tactile sensation, and the ability to collect and manipulate food and nesting materials.

A bird’s skin is thin and elastic where covered in feathers but thickened in bare areas. It consists of an inner dermis and an outer epidermis. The outer cells are constantly shed, but the inner dermis is a living layer that includes blood vessels, nerves, and muscular attachments.

Among many species of birds, the integument exhibits specialized modifications. For example, the skin on the head is unfeathered to varying degrees and distinctively colored in guineafowl, vultures, colies (Colius), and many storks, ibises, spoonbills, and cranes.

2023年11月23日 · Bird Skin. All birds have skin that covers their bodies underneath their feathers. A bird’s skin helps regulate body temperature, detects sensations, and protects the internal organs. Bird skin contains nerves, blood vessels, and sense receptors just like human skin. However, bird skin tends to be thinner and lighter than mammalian skin so ...

The integumentary system consists of the skin, the feathers and the appendages (claws and beak). The skin covers the majority of the body and contains glands in the outer ear canal and the preen gland at the base of the tail, that the bird uses to preen its feathers.

2015年11月13日 · Bird Skin. Birds have a thin and delicate epidermis, or skin, compared to other vertebrates. Their skin produces specialized structures called feathers, which is one of the unique characteristics of birds. Feathers are made up of keratin, a flexible protein that also forms the hair and fingernails of mammals.

2022年5月7日 · Parts of the feather: Calamus: Central shaft at the base which extends under the skin into the feather follicle. Rachis (scapus or quill) feather shaft above the calamus that holds the barbs. Barbules and barbettes (hooklets): microscopic filaments that attach to each other, forming a tight, smooth surface. Bird keeps them attached during preening.

The skin covers the body of birds and produces feathers and a variety of other external structures: beak covering, wattles, comb, scales of feet and legs. The skin is thinner than mammals’ and attaches to the skeleton in a number of places: skull, beak, wrist, wing tips, dorsal side of the pelvis, tarsometatarsus, and toes.

2023年11月4日 · The skin of birds keeps out pathogens and other potentially harmful substances, retains vital fluids and gases, serves as a sensory organ, and produces and supports feathers. This chapter describes the structure of avian skin and explains the functions of unfeathered...

Avian integument is thin, elastic, and loosely attached to the body, giving birds the freedom of movement needed for flight. Its epidermis is both keratinized and lipogenic, and the skin as a whole acts as a sebaceous secretory organ.