Rat Fleese Hair, Main Shaft, Under the Microscope

Rat Hair

This is a rat hair that is part of an environmental tapelift using 3M Magic Tape. The cellulose ester plastic coat was removed with acetone and the particles stayed in position on the slide in the adhesive layer. The "ribbon" cross- section is evident as the hair twists in this mount. The pattern of pigment concentrating in the medulla is typical of rodent hair.

Transmitted Off Crossed Circular Polarized Light

Definition/Function:

Mammalian hair is composed of a protein, keratin. It is the same protein that makes horn, fingernails, claws, skin epithelium, and dander. Mammalian hair consists of three distinct morphological units, the cuticle, the cortex and the medulla. The distinctive pattern shown by these units varies over the length of the hair in a way that can be very characteristic. The patterns exhibited by these units in any given hair are often sufficient to identify the genus, the species, or even the individual that the hair came from.

Significance in the Environment:

Characteristic Features:

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.