Feathers

Ticks are currently among the most prevalent blood-feeding ectoparasites, but their feeding habits and hosts in deep time have long remained speculative. Here, we report direct and indirect evidence in 99 million-year-old Cretaceous amber showing that hard ticks and ticks of the extinct new family Deinocrotonidae fed on blood from feathered dinosaurs, non-avialan or avialan excluding crown-group birds. A †Cornupalpatum burmanicum hard tick is entangled in a pennaceous feather. Two deinocrotonids described as †Deinocroton draculi gen. et sp. nov. have specialised setae from dermestid beetle larvae (hastisetae) attached to their bodies, likely indicating cohabitation in a feathered dinosaur nest. A third conspecific specimen is blood-engorged, its anatomical features suggesting that deinocrotonids fed rapidly to engorgement and had multiple gonotrophic cycles. These findings provide insight into early tick evolution and ecology, and shed light on poorly known arthropod-vertebrate inte...

The article examines Edward Linley Sambourne’s cartoon series ‘Mr. Punch’s Designs After Nature’ which appeared in Punch from the late 1860s onwards. The images show women morphing into animals and birds, or wearing them as exaggerated forms of decoration. Some of the cartoons explicitly satirise specific fashion trends or silhouettes, whilst others poke fun at fashion generally. The author’s focus is on the iconography of ‘Mr. Punch’s Designs After Nature’, the real 1860s and 1870s fashions giving rise to these images' creation, as well as the visual and textual tradition of satire within which Sambourne’s cartoons can be situated. The article pays particular attention to the re-evaluation of the relationship between human and non-human in the light of Darwin’s ideas, and to the gender-related aspects of Sambourne’s zoomorphic images.

Iridescent feather colors involved in displays of many extant birds are produced by nanoscale arrays of melanin-containing organelles (melanosomes). Data relevant to the evolution of these colors and the properties of melanosomes involved in their generation have been limited. A data set sampling variables of extant avian melanosomes reveals that those forming most iridescent arrays are distinctly narrow. Quantitative comparison of these data with melanosome imprints densely sampled from a previously unknown specimen of the Early Cretaceous feathered Microraptor predicts that its plumage was predominantly iridescent. The capacity for simple iridescent arrays is thus minimally inferred in paravian dinosaurs. This finding and estimation of Microraptor feathering consistent with an ornamental function for the tail suggest a centrality for signaling in early evolution of plumage and feather color.

Seabirds are ideal model organisms to track mercury (Hg) through marine food webs as they are long-lived, broadly distributed, and are susceptible to biomagnification due to foraging at relatively high trophic levels. However, using these species as biomonitors requires a solid understanding of the degree of species, sexual and age-specific variation in foraging behaviors which act to mediate their dietary exposure to Hg. We combined stomach content analysis along with Hg and stable isotope analyses of blood, feathers and common prey items to help explain inter and intra-specific patterns of dietary Hg exposure across three sympatric Pygoscelis penguin species commonly used as biomonitors of Hg availability in the Antarctic marine ecosystem. We found that penguin tissue Hg concentrations differed across species, between adults and juveniles, but not between sexes. While all three penguins species diets were dominated by Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and to a lesser extent fish...

Hydrolysis of biomass waste (such as fish waste, chicken waste, hair and feather) to produce amino acids was studied in sub-critical water, with reaction temperatures from 180 to 320°C and reaction pressures from 3 to 30MPa. The product of amino acid was determined by Amino Acid Analyzer (BioLC), and 18 kinds of amino acid were obtained. The results show that

Tracking small migrant organisms worldwide has been hampered by technological and recovery limitations and sampling bias inherent in exogenous markers. Naturally occurring stable isotopes of H (δ(2)H) in feathers provide an alternative intrinsic marker of animal origin due to the predictable spatial linkage to underlying hydrologically driven flow of H isotopes into foodwebs. This approach can assess the likelihood that a migrant animal originated from a given location(s) within a continent but requires a robust algorithm linking H isotopes in tissues of interest to an appropriate hydrological isotopic spatio-temporal pattern, such as weighted-annual rainfall. However, a number of factors contribute to or alter expected isotopic patterns in animals. We present results of an extensive investigation into taxonomic and environmental factors influencing feather δ(2)H patterns across North America.

Dietary amino acids (AA) are crucial for animal growth, development, reproduction, lactation, and health. However, there is a scarcity of information regarding complete composition of “nutritionally nonessential AA” (NEAA; those AA which can be synthesized by animals) in diets. To provide a much-needed database, we quantified NEAA (including glutamate, glutamine, aspartate, and asparagine) in feed ingredients for comparison with “nutritionally essential AA” (EAA; those AA whose carbon skeletons cannot be formed by animals). Except for gelatin and feather meal, animal and plant ingredients contained high percentages of glutamate plus glutamine, branched-chain AA, and aspartate plus asparagine, which were 10–32, 15–25, and 8–14% of total protein, respectively. In particular, leucine and glutamine were most abundant in blood meal and casein (13% of total protein), respectively. Notably, gelatin, feather meal, fish meal, meat and bone meal, and poultry byproduct had high percentages of glycine, proline plus hydroxyproline, and arginine, which were 10–35, 9.6–35, and 7.2–7.9% of total protein, respectively. Among plant products, arginine was most abundant in peanut meal and cottonseed meal (14–16% of total protein), whereas corn and sorghum had low percentages of cysteine, lysine, methionine, and tryptophan (0.9–3% of total protein). Overall, feed ingredients of animal origin (except for gelatin) are excellent sources of NEAA and EAA for livestock, avian, and aquatic species, whereas gelatin provides highest amounts of arginine, glycine, and proline plus hydroxyproline. Because casein, corn, soybean, peanut, fish, and gelatin are consumed by children and adults, our findings also have important implications for human nutrition.

While the use of animal materials in contemporary fashion was fervently debated during the period of this research study, fur and exotic animal materials (such as feathers and reptile skins) remained appealing resources in the creation of fashion embellishment.The researcher’s prior experience working for fashion brands which incorporated fur and
exotic animal materials was that existing imitations did not encompass the decorative qualities and appeals associated with high fashion. Embellishment alternatives to fur and exotic animal materials had not previously been documented through research.

Applying the researcher’s skills and tacit knowledge as a fashion textile designer, the aim of this practice research was to develop non-animal textile embellishment alternatives to fur and exotic animal materials. This was achieved by determining the design appeals of fur and exotic animal materials as decorative embellishment, and through the implementation of an unusual range of materials and experimental textile embellishment processes to create samples and artefacts. The researcher articulates embellishment as being hand manipulated textiles and additive elements with the broad aim of decoration.

An inductive, reflective practice technique was implemented in order to gain new knowledge through the successes and failures of alternative textile embellishment sampling. The practice was informed through historic archival research and engagement with industries associated with the contemporary use of fur and exotic animal materials. Furthermore, through discovering inspiring exotic animal species in the Amazon Rainforest which further informed practice developments, and by creating artefacts which were disseminated in exhibitions, including the ‘Fashioned from Nature’ exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum (2018-2019). As part of research dissemination, a practical workshop with students from London College of Fashion was also created which
inspired reflections on future embellishment in view of the appeals of fur and exotic animal materials.

This thesis contributes to knowledge through the development of two novel embellishment techniques developed and documented by the researcher: ‘Adapted wig making with embroidery’ and ‘threading rubber.’ In addition, this research maps values relating to the designer appeals of fur and exotic animal materials, an area the researcher evidences as being under explored. This research therefore leads primarily to new
understandings about approaches to textile embellishment practice, and aims to inspire fashion and textile design practitioners to consider the use of creative alternatives to animal materials. For academics and industry, the value lies in further developing fashion textile design research methods and the challenges of emergent issues in contemporary society. The final presentation is a written and illustrated thesis with embellishment samples, determining a range of alternative materials and textile embellishment processes.