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
More kid-friendly Smologies episodes!
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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
Foraging Ecology (EATING WILD PLANTS) Encore with @BlackForager, Alexis Nikole Nelson
Columbidology (PIGEONS? YES) Part 2 with Rosemary Mosco
Columbidology (PIGEONS? YES) Part 1 with Rosemary Mosco
Smologies #42: TREES with J. Casey Clapp
Field Trip: I Chased the 2024 Eclipse with Umbraphiles
Heliology (THE SUN/ECLIPSES) with India Jackson and Michael Kirk
Smologies #41: PELICANS with Juita Martinez
Disgustology (REPULSION TO GROSS STUFF) with Paul Rozin
Field Trip: Alie’s Mystery Surgery!
Smologies #40: HAIR with Valerie Horsley
Oikology (DECLUTTERING) Encore with Jamie & Filip Hord + Joe Ferrari
Functional Morphology (ANATOMY) Encore with Joy Reidenberg
Smologies #39: ANCIENT ROME with Darius Arya
Black Hole Theory Cosmology (WHAT ARE BLACK HOLES?!) Part 2 with Ronald Gamble, Jr.
Black Hole Theory Cosmology (WHAT ARE BLACK HOLES?!) Part 1 with Ronald Gamble, Jr.
Smologies #38: CARNIVORES with Rae Wynn-Grant
Hydrochoerology (CAPYBARAS) with Elizabeth Congdon
Theoretical & Creative Ecology (SCIENCE & ECOPOETRY) with Madhur Anand
Smologies #37: PROTEINS + DNA with Raven “The Science Maven” Baxter
Evolutionary Anthropology (METABOLISM) with Herman Pontzer
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