The second picture shows one similar in shape to those sported by modern birds.

第二幅图显示的形状与现代鸟类相似。

Modern feathers consist of thousands of fibres held together by tiny hooks.

现代鸟类由成千上万束靠细钩聚拢在一起的纤维构成。

When light hits the thin front surface of a bird's hollow melanosome, some is reflected and some passes through.

当光波到达鸟类表面的中空黑色素体时，一部分光被反射回来 一部分穿过。

So, most birds have a feather that is part down.

大多数鸟类都有。

It also let the scientists know about its final meals - bird feathers and plants.

它还让科学家们了解了它的最后一餐——鸟类的和植物。

Scientists inspected feathers from birds in the Arctic that were about to leave for South America.

科学家们对现居北极即将飞往南美的鸟类的进行了研究。

There are species where birds rub feathers on each other...

还有些鸟类会互相摩擦。

It is rather homely withal, having nothing in feather, feature, or form to attract notice.

英国云雀隶属家常鸟类，其、秉性或吸引异类的方式并无任何特异。

And for one Australian bird, feathers even help produce an important sound-an alarm.

而对于澳大利亚一种鸟类来说，甚至可以帮助它们发出一种重要的声音——警报。

Indigenous cultures around the world co-opted feathers from local birds, often as displays of social status.

全世界的土著文化从当地的鸟类身上获取，通常作为社会地位的展示。

And from those imprints, we can determine that these microraptor feathers were similar to modern dinosaur, as in bird, feathers.

从这些痕迹中，我们能知道这些盗龙的和现代的恐龙很相似，就像鸟类的。

But, birds don't just use feathers to fly.

但是鸟类的除了让它们飞翔之外 还有其他用处。

When we're collecting the remains from the aircraft, it's usually bird and feather remains.

- 当我们从飞机上收集遗骸时，通常是鸟类和遗骸。

Isn't it a happy coincidence we find feathers beautiful in the same ways that birds do?

我们和鸟类一样都发现很漂亮，这难道不是一个快乐的巧吗？

Adult birds use these feathers to bring water for their chicks from distant oases.

成鸟类用这些从遥远的绿洲为雏鸟带来水。

We can no longer use feathers as a defining characteristic of birds.

我们不能再使用作为鸟类的定义特征。

It had the feathered wings of a bird, but the teeth and long bony tail of a reptilian ancestor.

它有鸟类的翅膀，但有爬行动物祖先的牙齿和长骨尾巴。

The birds harbor tiny parts of plants and lichens in their feathers, setting up similar colonies thousands of miles apart.

鸟类可以用夹带部分的植物和地衣，在几千公里以外的类似生态群落中它们便可继续生存。

They are adaptive responses, just as feathers are for birds and fur is for mammals.

它们是适应性反应，就像之于鸟类，发之于哺乳动物。

However, in modern birds, feather color is influenced by the shape and arrangement of pigment cells called Eumelanosomes.

然而，在现代鸟类中，颜色受称为真黑素体的色素细胞的形状和排列的影响。