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Cat Hair

Cat Fleece Hair

This is a picture of a cat fleece hair

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Definition/Function:

This hair belongs to the group Felis catus, or domestic cat.

Significance in the Environment:

Characteristic Features:

Cat hair tends to have a relatively wide medulla at mid-shaft but begins in the classic "wine goblet" form near the root and is uniserial in the fleece but becomes more complex in the guard hairs. The pigment bodies are in the cortex. The cuticle tends to be imbricate, toothlike and prominent over the main part of the shaft for both fleece and guard hairs. The root of the hair is elongated with little change in diameter and is often frayed at the base.

Associated Particles:

References:

References with Photographs and/or Drawings

Hausman, Leon Augustus, "Structural charactreistics of the hair of mammals", THE AMERICAN NATURALIST, vol. 54, no. 635, pp.496-523,

Hausman, Leon Augustus, "Recent studies of hair structure relationships", THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY, pp. 258-277,

Glaister, John, A STUDY OF HAIRS AND WOOLS, Misr Press, Cairo, 1931.

FBI site for Animal Hair Identification: http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/july2004/research/2004_03_research02.htm

Keys Only

Mayer, William V., "The hair of California mammals with keys to the dorsal guard hairs of California mammals", THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 480-512, 1952.

Stains, Howard J., "Field key to guard hair of middle western furbearers", JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT, vol. 22, no.1, pp. 95-97, January, 1958.

Mathiak, Harold A., "A key to hairs of the mammals of southern Michigan", JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 251-268, October, 1938.