Morphological Study on the Coat Hair in Golden Takin

The structure of coat hairs in golden takin (Budorcas taxicolor bedfordi) classified into the Bovidae family, living in harsher environmental conditions, is compared with the cattle's coat hair data. Morphological study and structural analysis with WAXD (wideangle X-ray diffraction) measurements were made on the hair samples, and the structural features were investigated. The overcoat hair in takin contained a continuous thick medullated tissue in its center while the undercoat hair was crimped finely and has no medullated tissue. Those morphologies of coat hairs will be effective to keep a vital temperature in harsh winter. The observation of the longitudinal section of the overcoat hair revealed the continuous dendritic framework-structured medullated tissue with air spaces and/or, in some cases, filling the spaces with wax-like granules. In the WAXD measurements of the summer coat hairs, similar α-keratin WAXD peaks were recorded except for the weak arc-shaped scattering peaks at around 2θ = 20.6°, 22.4°, which coincided with the peaks of the β' crystal form of the fats.