Morning everyone, it's finally Friday! Unfortunately I do have to work today but I really shouldn't complain after getting a personal day with basically no notice. I'm a little anxious, my mom asked me on Wednesday if I could stay for a drink tonight and "discuss something". I hate when people say nebulous phrases like that, it's just instant panic for me, and I think I gave her a look so she said it's something to do with my car over the winter? So idk. We'll see. I managed to make some good progress on my comission piece yesterday-its the biggest dog portrait I've burned, mostly because that was the only piece of wood I had that I could use for a portrait. The others had larger knots that would have really taken away from the dog's features, this one has a small knot but that's workable. Anyway, today I figured I'd talk about fur. It's not the only "F" word that comes to mind but definitely the more appropriate one lol. So here goes

Fur is a thick hair growth that covers the skin of mammals, and it serves many purposes: thermoregulation, waterproofing, sensory, camouflage, communication and protection 

Most fur consists of guard hairs, which are longer and somewhat oily to protect against water reaching the skin, and an undercoat, which is thicker and helps keep them warm. You can see guard hairs on cats pretty easily, if you look closely at the fur you can see that some hairs stick out farther. Also, I posted a picture of Miki the other day, you can see that she looks gray, but she doesn't have one gray hair on her body. Her undercoat is black and her guard hairs are white; the 2 mixed look gray

There are several types of fur, including: definitive, which can be shed after reaching a certain length 

Vibrissae, which provides sensory information (this is whiskers, usually)

Pelage, which consists of guard hair and underfur

Spines, which are thick guard hairs used for defense (think porcupines)

Bristles, which are longer hairs used for visual signals (manes on lions, etc)

Velli, which is the downy fur that insulates newborn mammals 

Wool, which is long, soft and curly 

Longer or thicker fur does not mean warmer. Arctic animals can have shorter fur than some tropical animals, and desert mammals can have thick fur to protect their skin from the sun reaching it, so dense fur actually keeps them cool. In aquatic mammals the fur traps air which keeps them warm by keeping the skin dry

Fur color is about more than just looks. It plays a role in sexual selection, camouflage (hair color that's meant to blend in with the surroundings, also some tree dwelling mammals like sloths have a greenish tint to their fur from a symbiotic relationship with algae) communication (animals like skunks and honey badgers have distinct patterns that other animals know to stay away from), seasonal protection in animals whose winter and summer coats are different colors, and thermoregulation-dark colored fur attracts more solar rays and can help keep an animal warmer. 

A lot of animals can use what's called a pilomotor reflex, which raises their guard hairs as a threat display. When dogs' hackles (the hair along the back of the neck and spine) go up or cats get all puffy, for example. People have this reflex too, it happens when we get goosebumps or when you're nervous and the hair on our neck stands up

I would go into this a little further but I'll risk getting super nerdy and I also need to get ready for my run, then work. I hope everyone has a good day today, and I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite pictures of Nox, who is basically a big, floofy train wreck of a cat lol