Summary
Mammals will now be cool in their summer coats, thin fur through which the air circulates easily and not the dense fur of winter, though it must be said this is a rather sweeping generalisation. Mammals vary in terms of their coat, or pelage. For example, the thin summer coat helps in the evaporation of sweat in large mammals such as deer and horses that use sweat as a cooling device. Small mammals such as shrews and mice do not have sweat glands over the general body surface. If they had, they would lose water via dehydration quickly, and may die.
Hair develops from a hair follicle which is basically an inpushing of the outer surface of the skin epidermis. In the majority of mammals the coat is made up of coarse hairs called guard hairs, waterproofed by oily secretions from the sebaceous glands. Beneath this outer layer lies fine under-fur, or wool, which traps warm air at the skins surface. The insulating power of animal fur depends on the amount of air that is trapped within the coat.See the full content of this document
Extract
Winter Overcoats Shed by Mammals
In some mammals a seasonal coat chan...
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