Importance of Hair/Fur (in Biology)

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

Mammalian animals share a characteristic in common, apart from the fact that they have breasts for lactation of our young, and is to have hair on our skins and inside some cavities. This filamentous structure composed almost exclusively of keratin is one of the adaptive marvels that has allowed mammals to conquer most of the territory. of the planet, thanks to the functions it performs, of which it has been possible to decipher: 1) maintaining body temperature, protecting the body from the cold and avoiding sweating excessive; 2) protection from the sun's rays; 3) protection against aggression from other animals; 4) hinder the access of ectoparasites to the skin; 5) retention of body odors and pheromones for the identification of individuals in a pack and even between species to distinguish between a potential mate and a predator; 6) visual recognition through color patterns on the coat; and 7) filtering of impurities that can access the most vulnerable areas of the body, such as the eyes and nose, or beyond, such as the lungs.

From the caves to Versace

The distinction of humans from other primates has been a long evolutionary process, promoted in many factors by particular habits, abilities, and skills. the innumerable skills that in our increasingly upright walk we manage to develop as a species, essentially in those that correspond to the ways in which which we have been supplying, transforming and satisfying our own needs, in the face of the adversities to which nature itself has given us facing up.

An abundant fur, which in the past protected us against the inclemency of climate changes and the constant aggressions of any number of bugs, in the midst of the roughness of the cave floors, he was rather grateful and because of the luck he suffered, also insufficient, since much was not what that our ancestors had to think before beginning to complement their natural cover of hairs, with those rescued from the other animals that They hunted for food, quickly discovering the wonders of such a strategy and giving rise to one of the oldest professions in the world, hunting. of fashion.

The saying goes well that the wolf loses its hair, but not its vice and in this sense, although humans have lost the vast majority of our fur, thanks to all the clothing we we have invented over the millennia – and to the not-so-short cosmetic assault against it – many still seek to maintain the benefits of their utilities, developing everything an economic sector that ranges from artisanal production to the most modern and complex of the industrialized world, using, of course, the hair of animals that meet both with adequate physical characteristics for its handling, as well as the possibility of massive rearing of the animal itself and obtaining its fur in a way that does not represent a risk for the animal and much less its sacrifice, as for example in the case of sheep and alpacas, forming part of the products derived from the hair, of one of the sectors most powerful economic sectors of humanity, as well as the little fur that we still have left, which gives meaning to the complementary economic sector, that of cosmetics and aesthetics, to for which there have been no limits between the number of products and variations that we can apply for and against what we finely call hair as an exclusivity our.

Senses and messages by the hair

In more recent times, research has also begun to delve into the importance of hair at a communication level, highlighting the incredible electrical and chemical conduction capacity that they possess, through functional specializations such as whiskers, of which their high capacity and sensory performance, to allow mammals to capture information about their geographic orientation and even the physical dimensions of their spaces in which they are, to be able to calculate if they can fit in a certain place or at how much relatively short distance they can be obstacles so visible.

hairy structures

The hair is mostly organized individually, it is produced by a type of special cells of the epidermis, which constitute what we call a follicle. piloso, which is responsible for giving origin and growth to the hair, however, there are some curious modifications of nature that allow variations on this design, from the production of completely straight and short hair, to voluminous coats of dense curls, both in humans and in other mammals, there are hairs in different areas of the body and with different presentations, depending on the functions they must fulfill; however, much more complex structures have been able to evolve from this condition, giving rise to super productions of keratin in forms as imposing and resistant as the horns of some mammals such as that of the rhinos, who have been endangered precisely because of the unjustifiable human ambition to possess that peculiar giant "hair" that these wonderful animals shine on his forehead.

References

Godoy, M. R. (Y/A). a story of hair. Magazine How Do You See? UNAM, Mexico.

Goldenberg, P. (1953). The tannery and its economic importance for the country (Doctoral dissertation. Buenos Aires' University. School of Economics.). Argentina.

Hickman, C. et al. (1998) Integral Principles of Zoology. 11th Ed. Madrid, Spain. McGraw-Hill Interamericana.