Animal Hair Fibers

Although most animals contain hairs on their skin, limited studies have been conducted on understanding the structure and properties of animal hairs except for wool from different types of sheep. Zhang et al. had studied the structural characteristics of rabbit hair and found that the hair fibers had average diameters which varied between 10 and 20 μm and the fibers had scales similar to those seen on wool and the cross section of the fibers revealed a hollow center similar to that seen in feathers [11Zha]. Since there is limited literature available on animal hair fibers and an innumerable number of animals with hair exist, this topic has not been reviewed here.