Preventing Freezing with Fur: A Guide

Anyone who saw a wildlife documentary did not stick to the skin on polar bears.

This has been known for a long time by the Arctic indigenous residents who have used this fur, but is now attracting attention and studying by scientists. Bodyl holst Norwegian University in Bergen and her colleagues indicate that the ice resistance of the arakugen's fur is not the characteristics of the fur itself, but the natural oil secreted by the hair.

Holst is a physicist who studies the surface characteristics. She started when she saw a polar bear on her fur, because she was very well insulated while watching a TV quiz program, she was barely insulated. In other words, the temperature of the outward fur is under freezing, but Horst was realized, but she had never seen a wildlife film coated with ice.

“And why did I don't think freezing is a problem? Why does ice do not accumulate in fur under these circumstances?” She says.

After all, this is a problem for many other land mammals in cold environments, from cows in Musuku to growing beards. Holst asked a researcher at Polar Research Institute in Norwegian why he knows why the arco is on ice. I didn't do anything, but I decided to investigate together.

Horst and her colleagues obtained a sample of polar bears from the Norwegian Subarbird and compared them with human hair. They discovered that the power needed to remove ice from the polar bears was one -quarter of the human hair. In other words, bears can easily shake the ice.

Washing polar bears removes ice resistance, suggesting that oil -based coating on the hair is the key to its characteristics. This substance, known as sebum, is secreted by glands connected to the hair.

There are no substances called squalene, which are commonly found in sebum, especially in aquatic mammals, especially in aquatic mammals. It also contains some abnormal fatty acids. These may be unique to polar bears, but we can't be convinced of it because there are few research on animal sebum composition.

Unlike the methods used in other fur, the Arctic people, such as Inuit, have traditionally prepared polar bears by storing sebum. They also use fur in a way to use ice resistance.

For example, the Greenland Inuit Hunter is known to have stopped sticking to ice by placing a small part of the portrogle fur under the legs of a stool used by the hunter. They also tied the pacifier's fur into the boot sole while stalking animals to avoid the noise made of ice -covered surface.

The Holst team is currently investigating potential applications, such as creating an environment -friendly ski wax, which is currently used to prevent ice, which is used for long -term full -term fluorocarbon compounds.

Hair wax based on polar bears can help people who work in a cold environment. “I didn't think about the application, but it should definitely work,” says Horst. “I think you just gave me a new idea.”