Animal Hair Notes

Animal hair as evidence

Class or Individual?

Background Information

• Animal fur is usually composed of _____ types of hairs
• ________ HAIRS are usually thin, soft, kinked and not straight, and are found close to the _________
• ___________ HAIRS are __________, thicker, straight, and make up the hairs you typically see when you look at an animal’s fur.

two

Wool

Skin

Courser

Gaurd

Animal hairs look different from human hairs in the following ways:

Spinous

• Animal hairs can have an Imbricate, __________, or Coronal cuticle scale pattern.
• All human hairs have an__________ cuticle scale pattern.
• Human hairs don’t always contain a _________medulla, and if it is present it is usually thin.

imbricate

Visible

medulla

• All animal hairs contain a ___________ and is large.
• Animal hairs have a medulla that is usually a __________pattern of __________-filled compartments.

unique

air

• Human hairs have a medulla (if present) that looks more like a _________, ___________ ________ running through the hair.

column

squiggly

dark

CUTICLE DESCRIPTION

Coronal cuticle- looks like cups or crowns stacked on top of each other.

• The thin, pointed _______ of an animal hair often has a different Cuticle Scale Pattern than the rest of the hair.
• Try to make your observations toward the _______of the hair.

USE NAIL POLISH TO FIND SCALE PATTERN

Imbricate - Flattened, random overlapping scales.

Spinous -longer, pointed scales.

middle

tip

CORTEX COLOR

When viewed through the microscope:

• White or ______
• Light Yellow
• Medium ________
• _____________ Brown
• Medium Brown
• _______________Brown

Clear

Yellow

Light

Dark

MEDULLARY INDEX

0.9

Medullary Index describes the _______ of the medulla layer that is present.

• Human hair Medullary Index is almost always “________” to “_______”.
• Animal hair Medullary Index is almost always “_____”, “0.75”, or “_____”.

0.25

0.5

pattern