Biofacts_-_Pelts Flashcards
(32 cards)
Q: Which animals have fur or hair?
Mammals are the only animals that have hair or fur.
Q: What is a pelt?
A pelt of a mammal is their skin and fur
Q: Functions of skin in mammals? Which is considered the primary function?
Primary function is defense or protection.
Barrier protecting the animal’s soft inner structures against impact and pressure and maintain stable bodily fluids.
Sensory receptor for touch, pain, cold, and heat.
Q: Functions of fur? Which is considered the primary function?
Primary function: Temperature regulation (both via. color and air trapping). Insulation against variation in environmental temperatures.
Primary function: Protection.
Waterproofing.
Camouflage.
Sensing nearby surroundings. (physical touches, wind direction, water currents)
Communication. (e.g., standing on end to indicate danger)
Q: Does fur differ within species depending on where they live?
In areas that are either warmer or that have lower humidity levels, their fur tends to be lighter. [Color or thickness? Slides don’t specify, but context suggests color. Both are probably true.]
Q: Examples of species that have light-colored coats and live in hot, arid environments?
Camel, lion, meerkat, and kangaroo.
Q: Universal function of external pigmentation? Which common color pattern serves this function?
Provide protection from ultraviolet radiation.
One reason for countershading. (dorsal sides tend to be darker)
Q: What is countershading? What functions does it serve? Animal examples?
Animal coloration where it’s darker on the dorsal side and lighter on the ventral side.
Serves as camouflage.
Also result of the fact that pigmentation provides UV protection.
Camouflage examples: penguins, red pandas, and koalas.
Q: What is disruptive coloring? Function?
Coloring that helps break up an animal’s outline, thus making it more difficult to see or recognize, like stripes and spots.
Q: Keratin
A protein and the major structural component of skin, hair/fur, fingernails, claws, horns and hoofs of mammals, and feathers and beaks of birds.
Q: How is the physical perturbation of hairs detected by the body?
Nerve endings are wrapped around the follicle.
Q: Discuss fur layers
Two layers: guard hairs and undercoat.
Guard hairs: long, coarse, (transparent in Polar Bears), (hollow in Polar Bears, wolverine, caribou)
Undercoat: dense, softer
Guard hairs protect against damage, provide coloration, shed rain/snow, aid in waterproofing, and can be fluffed up for intimidation or extra insulation (this is what goosebumps are for).
Undercoat provides insulation by trapping layer of air.
Q: One thing warm-blooded animals can do when they get cold (besides fluffing up fur)?
Shivering. Generates heat.
Q: Characteristics of hairs in aquatic mammals?
Guard hairs are so dense that it is almost impossible to wet.
Often waterproofed by oily secretions from sebaceous glands.
Note: aquatic birds also waterproof feathers with oils
Q: Example non-aquatic mammal whose pelt is waterproofed by oily secretions from sebaceous glands?
Wolverine.
Also very dense fur.
Because of this, wolverine pelts are favored for use in coat linings by hunters and trappers.
Q: Who has hollow, air-filled guard hairs? Benefits?
Polar bear, wolverine, and caribou/reindeer.
Help the guard hairs from matting when it gets wet and snowy.
Helps these high latitude animals maintain their insulated layer even in extreme cold.
Gives them some buoyancy while swimming.
Q: Is there a situation where dense fur is actually much less useful for staying warm? Example animals?
Deep-diving mammals go deep enough that the pressure would push the air out of their pelts, so they need blubber. (also bodies shaped efficiently for heat retention; low ratio of surface area to volume)
Ex: deep-diving seals and sea lions.
Q: Who has the densest fur of all animals?
Sea otters,
Q: How do whales and dolphins stay warm?
They have naked skin on their torsos but they have thick blubber for insulation.
Q: Pelt maintenance strategies
Mammals use self and/or mutual grooming to maintain their pelt. Use teeth, tongue, claws, nails. Removes dirt, pests, tangles. Also spreads skin oils.
Mammals replace their fur in annual or seasonal sheds. Keeps fur fresh. May change color for season.
Q: Effect of skin oils on fur.
Keeps hairs smooth, pliable, and water-resistant.
Q: Examples of body parts used for pelt maintenance in specific mammals.
Felines and wolves groom with their tongues.
Sea lions have noticeable claws that are used to groom their fur.
Lemurs have a row of forward-pointing teeth in the lower jaw that are used as a ‘tooth comb’ for self-grooming.
Monkeys and apes rely on their prehensile hand for grooming.
Q: Added benefit of mutual grooming?
Parents help groom their offspring to establish parental bonds.
Breeding couples groom to establish close relationships.
Used to reinforce rank in a hierarchical society within social animals. Usually lower ranking submissive animals are expected to groom the more dominant members of the group. This is especially true in the primates.
Q: Example animal whose pelt changes coloration.
Arctic hare sports a brilliant white coat that provides excellent camouflage in a winter of ice and snow. In spring, the hare’s colors change to blue-gray to more closely resemble local rocks and vegetation. The fur grows thicker in the winter, to insulate the hare against the cold.
