Nanostructures and Patterning in Indian Parrot Psittacula krameri

Abstract

The Indian parakeet (Psittacula krameri) belongs to the order Psittaciformes family Psittacidae. The male has a red ring in the neck collar region hence called rose ringed parakeet while the female lack it, showing sexual dimorphism. Parrots attract because of their phenomenal feather coloration which is because of iridescent and non-iridescent phenomenon of light. They show different color when they are viewed from different angle and the phenomena is called iridescent. It has been reported that the coloration is due to the microstructures that are present in barb. To some extend these microstructures are responsible for UV reflectance property of these feathers. It has been reported that the coloration is also due to nanostructures present on parrot’s feather and as well as the structure and pattern formation of different feather components of parrot. Here the XRD analyses of the feathers were done and the elements were detected using the EDX software, and some of their possible functions were predicted. Apart from this UV reflectance of various feathers were examined, where some show UV reflectance and some lack it. The possible function of UV reflectance is predicted to be useful in mate selection. Most importantly to understand pattern formation of various feather components the SEM was used.