Animal Hair Notes

Class or Individual?

Animal hair as evidence

Courser

Skin

Wool

two

Gaurd

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.

Spinous

imbricate

Visible

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

• 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.

squiggly

column

air

dark

medulla

unique

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

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

USE NAIL POLISH TO FIND SCALE PATTERN

middle

Spinous -longer, pointed scales.

tip

Imbricate - Flattened, random overlapping scales.

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

CUTICLE DESCRIPTION

• 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.

Yellow

Dark

Light

Clear

CORTEX COLOR

When viewed through the microscope:

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

pattern

0.9

0.25

0.5

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 “_____”.

MEDULLARY INDEX