Morphological study of the hairs of prey mammals from the fauna of Bulgaria

Radoslav Mihaylov1, Rosen Dimitrov2, Kamelia Stamatova-Yovcheva2, David Yovchev2 and Vasko Gerzilov3, Zheyna Zheleva4 and Bogomil Mihaylov5
1 Trakia University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Fundamental Sciences in Animal Husbandry, 6000 Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
2 Trakia University,Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, 6000 Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
3 Agricultural University, Faculty of Agronomy, Department of Animal Science, 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
4 Sofia University, Bulgaria 4Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication,,Department of Press Journalism and Book Publishing
5 Trakia University, 6000 Stara Zagora, Bulgari, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Plant Breeding

Abstract

Mihaylov, R., Dimitrov, R., Stamatova-Yovcheva, K., Yovchev, D., Gerzilov, V., Zheleva, Zh. & Mihaylov, B. (2024). Morphological study of the hairs of prey mammals from the fauna of Bulgaria. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 30(5), 875–882

The morphological specifics of the fur can be used for identification in ecological and zoological studies, in forensic and veterinary medical examinations. The scale pattern of the hair is one of the important identifying features and can be used as a “fingerprint”. In this study, the morphological characteristics of the guard hairs of eleven species of prey mammals, present in the fauna of Bulgaria were studied. The values for the hair length, the total hair thickness, the medulla thickness and medullary index were found in the studied animals. The combined use of morphometric values and the “scale model” of the hair – the medullary index (MI) are indexes that are applied for greater data reliability.

Keywords: prey mammals; hairs; histology

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