Abstract: The morphological characteristics of the winter hair and summer hair of northeast subspecies of red deer(Cervus elaphus xanthopygus), sampled from the buttock, upper part of hind leg, lower part of hind leg and site above hoof. The samples were dealt with one by one by using cuticular impression and made into cuticular impression plexiglass. The length, diameter, medullar diameter, medullar index, ratio of scale height to width of the hair were measured and calculated through micrometer. The results indicated that the structural characteristics and functions of hairs varied with the season and the sites where they were sampled. Parameters including hair length, diameter, medullar diameter and medullar index of winter hairs were larger than that of summer hairs. It indicated that the winter hair can reserve more air in the medulla than the summer hairs. The structure of the hair on the buttock was observed identity to those on the back and body-sides in our previous studies. So the results above suggested that the coat hair possess the function of thermal regulation. From the buttock to the far end of hind legs, the medullary diameter, medullary index and the ratio of scale height to width of the winter hair showed a trend of gradient descent, indicating that the mechanical strength of hair increased in this order to resist the mechanical injuries that were more frequently happened on far end of legs than the central body. These results above suggested that the hair differentiated to be poly-morphological to fit corresponding functions.

Key words: Hair, Red deer, Structure

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