A tail shaped by weak feather barbsSourced
Motmots do not deliberately carve their racket tails
Several motmot species have racket-shaped tails, with bare shafts beneath the tips. Earlier accounts claimed the birds deliberately plucked them into shape. Instead, weakly attached barbs fall away through abrasion or ordinary preening. Other motmot species have conventional tails.
An elegant shape invited a mistaken explanation.
Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Motmot · Wikimedia contributors
Adapted, summarized and translated from the source. Adapted text is also available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Reviewed: 2026-10-10