The vanes are composed of barbs that come off the rachis, tightly interlocked by barbules resulting in a cohesive flat fabric-like structure. The bottom part of the rachis is called the calamus, which is hollow, supports no vanes, and anchors the feather in a follicle below the bird’s skin’s surface. The shaft that supports the vanes is called the rachis. These elements make feathers last for a long time as a functional part of a bird’s body.Ī typical feather’s primary structure is a long, central shaft and a broad flat vane on either side of the shaft. Structurally, feathers are composed of microscopic filaments compacted or embedded in a keratin matrix.
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