Past Exhibits: > Splendid Plumage
Splendid Plumage
April 26 through September 8, 2024
Feathers are evolutionary marvels: aerodynamic, insulating, and beautiful. Birds-of-paradise, herons, toucans, and hummingbirds evolved an amazing diversity of feather form, color, and function.
The most dramatic outcome of sexual selection in these groups is the colorful plumage of the males. These delicate works of nature have been used as personal adornments, ritual objects, decorative artifacts, and tools by almost every society since the beginning of civilization.
Recent donations of hand-colored lithographs from British ornithologist John Gould’s 19-century folio publications depict birds with some of the most elaborate plumage in the world. Splendid Plumage showcases the feathery adaptations displayed by birds of Australia, New Guinea, Asia, Europe, and Central America, as pictured in the works of Gould and others.
