Unique fur and skin structure in harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina)—thermal insulation, drag reduction, or both?

Vertebrate surface structures, including mammalian skin and hair structures, have undergone various modifications during evolution in accordance with functional specializations. Harbour seals rely on their vibrissal system for orientation and foraging. To maintain tactile sensitivity even at low tem...

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Published in:Journal of The Royal Society Interface
Main Authors: Erdsack, Nicola, Dehnhardt, Guido, Witt, Martin, Wree, Andreas, Siebert, Ursula, Hanke, Wolf
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: The Royal Society 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.1206
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsif.2014.1206
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsif.2014.1206
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record_format openpolar
spelling crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsif.2014.1206 2024-06-02T08:13:13+00:00 Unique fur and skin structure in harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina)—thermal insulation, drag reduction, or both? Erdsack, Nicola Dehnhardt, Guido Witt, Martin Wree, Andreas Siebert, Ursula Hanke, Wolf 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.1206 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsif.2014.1206 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsif.2014.1206 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Journal of The Royal Society Interface volume 12, issue 104, page 20141206 ISSN 1742-5689 1742-5662 journal-article 2015 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.1206 2024-05-07T14:16:26Z Vertebrate surface structures, including mammalian skin and hair structures, have undergone various modifications during evolution in accordance with functional specializations. Harbour seals rely on their vibrissal system for orientation and foraging. To maintain tactile sensitivity even at low temperatures, the vibrissal follicles are heated up intensely, which could cause severe heat loss to the environment. We analysed skin samples of different body parts of harbour seals, and expected to see higher hair densities at the vibrissal pads as a way to reduce heat loss. In addition to significantly higher hair densities around the vibrissae than on the rest of the body, we show a unique fur structure of hair bundles consisting of broad guard hairs along with hairs of a new type, smaller than guard hairs but broader than underhairs, which we defined as ‘intermediate hairs’. This fur composition has not been reported for any mammal so far and may serve for thermal insulation as well as drag reduction. Furthermore, we describe a scale-like skin structure that also presumably plays a role in drag reduction. Article in Journal/Newspaper Phoca vitulina The Royal Society Journal of The Royal Society Interface 12 104 20141206
institution Open Polar
collection The Royal Society
op_collection_id crroyalsociety
language English
description Vertebrate surface structures, including mammalian skin and hair structures, have undergone various modifications during evolution in accordance with functional specializations. Harbour seals rely on their vibrissal system for orientation and foraging. To maintain tactile sensitivity even at low temperatures, the vibrissal follicles are heated up intensely, which could cause severe heat loss to the environment. We analysed skin samples of different body parts of harbour seals, and expected to see higher hair densities at the vibrissal pads as a way to reduce heat loss. In addition to significantly higher hair densities around the vibrissae than on the rest of the body, we show a unique fur structure of hair bundles consisting of broad guard hairs along with hairs of a new type, smaller than guard hairs but broader than underhairs, which we defined as ‘intermediate hairs’. This fur composition has not been reported for any mammal so far and may serve for thermal insulation as well as drag reduction. Furthermore, we describe a scale-like skin structure that also presumably plays a role in drag reduction.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Erdsack, Nicola
Dehnhardt, Guido
Witt, Martin
Wree, Andreas
Siebert, Ursula
Hanke, Wolf
spellingShingle Erdsack, Nicola
Dehnhardt, Guido
Witt, Martin
Wree, Andreas
Siebert, Ursula
Hanke, Wolf
Unique fur and skin structure in harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina)—thermal insulation, drag reduction, or both?
author_facet Erdsack, Nicola
Dehnhardt, Guido
Witt, Martin
Wree, Andreas
Siebert, Ursula
Hanke, Wolf
author_sort Erdsack, Nicola
title Unique fur and skin structure in harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina)—thermal insulation, drag reduction, or both?
title_short Unique fur and skin structure in harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina)—thermal insulation, drag reduction, or both?
title_full Unique fur and skin structure in harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina)—thermal insulation, drag reduction, or both?
title_fullStr Unique fur and skin structure in harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina)—thermal insulation, drag reduction, or both?
title_full_unstemmed Unique fur and skin structure in harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina)—thermal insulation, drag reduction, or both?
title_sort unique fur and skin structure in harbour seals ( phoca vitulina)—thermal insulation, drag reduction, or both?
publisher The Royal Society
publishDate 2015
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.1206
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsif.2014.1206
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsif.2014.1206
genre Phoca vitulina
genre_facet Phoca vitulina
op_source Journal of The Royal Society Interface
volume 12, issue 104, page 20141206
ISSN 1742-5689 1742-5662
op_rights https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.1206
container_title Journal of The Royal Society Interface
container_volume 12
container_issue 104
container_start_page 20141206
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