Biofacts_-_Pelts Flashcards
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.
