For several months a year, many male ducks lose their brightly-coloured plumage and adopt more sober attire, known as “eclipse plumage”. Discover the fascinating reasons behind this strategy, and why ...

ABSTRACT: During a series of transect legs through the pack ice of the eastern Ross Sea, aboard the RV icebreaker ‘Nathaniel B. Palmer’, we: (1) assessed the habitat chosen for moulting by emperor ...

1. Mechanisms causing costs of reproduction in birds are poorly understood. Here we focus on the renewing of feathers (=moult) which may be a possible physiological link between successive breeding ...

Unlike all other birds, penguins go through what is called a “catastrophic” moult. For the penguin, it is probably as bad as it sounds. Falklands Conservation recalls that every penguin must moult ...

People who live with pets notice that some animals moult in the spring and fall. Losing feathers or fur is unattractive, but it leads to a beautiful new coat in which to survive the winter or to ...