How Does Hair Protect The Body of Mammals

As the main feature of birds is feathers, so the hair is main characteristic of mammals. Why mammals have hair? Let’s see some of them.

The main task of the hair is that keeps body heat. In the tropics, however, it has the opposite role. Some tropical animals are protected by their fur from direct sunlight.

Very long hair on some parts of the body usually has a special role. For example, the mane may protect the animal’s neck from the teeth of its enemies; tail can be used to ward off insects; crest on the head of the male attracts a female. Sharp spines, which are actually collected strands of hair, allow guinea pig to defend against the enemy. Also, hair can serve as an organ of touch. Whiskers of cats have special nerves that react quickly to the touch.

So, you see that hair in different mammals may have a different role. And in humans? We know that very beautiful hair can make a woman attractive to men. But we have to assume that the hair in people once had greater practical significance than it has today.

Did you know that hair, body hair and nails have the same origin. Develop from the horny layer of the skin.

When a child is born, it is covered with a very soft fluffy hair. They soon replaced by thin hairs on the body and soft hair that we see in all children. Then comes the time of puberty, and the hairy covering changes in final gross covering – same as in growth person.

Development of the final hairy “blanket” regulate sexual glands. Influenced by the work of the male genital grow a beard, mustache and hair on his body, while the growth of hair on the head slows down or stops. The effect of female genital glands is the contrary. Hair growth is increasing, but the growth of the beard and body hair stops. Therefore, women do not have a beard.

These differences in the growth of hair in men and women are called “secondary sexual characteristics”. These are of the second features that distinguish male and female.

Hair occur by creating a small dent in the skin in the form of a trap that descends in the subcutaneous layer. This creates a future root of hair. From the root begins to sprout beginning of hair, then it goes through all skin layers and appears as a stalk of hair that protrudes above the skin.

If all the hair and body hair grow in the form of a single hair, instead of growing in the form of numerous hairs, we could figure out how much of your hair creating body. This unique hair would grow at a rate of 2 cm per minute and at the end of the year would reach a length of 48 km.