Velvet Asity

July 24, 2012
We’re in Madagascar for a fourth week in a row. Velvet Asity, Philepitta castanea, is part of another family endemic to Madagascar. This species has bright green facial skin around its eyes—you can’t make this stuff up. Evolution of birds is a wonderful thing. The color of the facial skin is not produced by a pigment, but is a structural color resulting from the arrangement of collagen fibers in the skin.

Learn more by visiting our Division of Birds online!

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© The Field Museum, Division of Birds, photo by Nicholas Block