Showing posts with label Cat Whiskers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cat Whiskers. Show all posts

Aug 21, 2015

Fur and Hair

There is no difference between fur and hair; it is all just hair. Most refer to animal hair as fur, while referring to our own hair as just hair.  However, hair and fur are chemically indistinguishable, both made up of keratin.

Human hair does not grow forever nor does animal hair/fur, although the length of the growing cycle can be longer or shorter for both. Various mammals have different growth cycles for their hair than humans do. Cat hair seems to stop growing at a relatively short length, similar to the growth rate and length of the hair on a human’s arms and legs.

The maximum length of hair on various parts of a body is entirely determined by genetics and varies widely from person to person and animal to animal.

A cat’s whiskers are just hair, though these hairs are attached to special nervous system connections allowing them to work as sensory receptors.

A Porcupine's quills are extremely enlarged hairs.

Incidentally, shaving does not make your hair grow back thicker, stronger, or faster. It has been proven by numerous studies that shaving has absolutely no effect on hair growth rate or shape