Oh, hey, it's that rock that you found at the lake that for some reason just said, hey, put me in your pocket,

alley Ward.

And welcome to the Somologies episode of Feathers.

Very exciting.

What is Somologies, by the way, if you've landed here? Smologies are shorter, classroom friendly,

kids safe episodes you can listen to for all ages.

Kind of like digests you can listen to with the family.

If you want the full episode, it's linked in the show notes.

But this one, we made safe for you and your kids.

You're welcome.

Okay, let's get into it.

Plumology. Did you know this was a thing? I did not. So it comes from the Latin for down or for first

beard and later plume came to mean like a stream of smoke. So we're talking

all manner of feathers. Oh feathers., I have already covered ornithology. It came out in November 2019, but I was thrilled when this ologist at the Natural History Museum of LA suggested via email that there were many, many more subologies with

feathered friends, including them dang feathers themselves.

So I made haste to the museum one sleepy Wednesday afternoon, right before they closed for the day and I met up with this ologist who was wearing a flowery blouse and a museum ID on a dangling lanyard and I asked her all the quilled questions that would rattle out of my dome, as well as yours.

So shake off the dust and get ready to soar the sky and learn about what makes a feather,

a feather, how they evolved, why they're important, the longest bird tail,

peacock plumes, iridescence, the blackest black, tiny feathers, huge ones,

dinosaur myths and mysteries and more with feather researcher

and professional plumbologist Dr. Allison Schultz. Monge. Now you are a plumeologist.

Now you are a plumeologist?

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