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Jan 2024
25m 34s

Smologies #36: FEATHERS with Allison Shu...

ALIE WARD
About this episode

ANNOUNCEMENT: SMOLOGIES NOW HAS ITS OWN FEED! SUBSCRIBE  FOR NEW EPISODES EVERY THURSDAY. 

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Plumage! Dance battles! Possible holographic disco birds? Natural History Museum of LA ornithology curator Dr. Allison Shultz is a professional plumologist aka feather expert. We visit the museum’s collection of rare specimens and chat about everything from fossilized dinosaur feathers to peacock tails, the fanciest roosters, quill pens, pigments, flight feathers, the blackest black birds, and why birdwatching is like seeing tiny purple raccoons zoom overhead. Birds: like Pokemon Go but weirder.

Visit Dr. Allison Shultz’s website and follow her on Twitter

Full-length (*not* G-rated) Plumology episode + tons of science links

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Follow @Ologies on Twitter and Instagram

Follow @AlieWard on Twitter and Instagram

Sound editing by Steven Ray Morris, Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media and Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions

Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Kelly R. Dwyer & Erin Talbert

Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

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