Vulpes vulpes
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English: Red fox
German: Fuchs
French: Renard rouge
Spanish: Zorro rojo
Distribution areas
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The red fox is found in Europe, Asia and
North America, and also in Australia where
it was introduced by Man. About eleven fox
species can be found in other continents.
Description of the fur
---------------------- A group of the fine hairs,
Fox skins are from 60 to 95 cm long, 1000x
with a extremely bushy tail. The coat
appears in different shades of red and grey. The undercoat layer is grey but,
the tips of the shafts are yellow-grey in colour. The guard hairs are grey at
the bottom and red-grey in the upper-parts of the shaft. The tail hairs are
dense and dark or sometimes black at the tips.
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Vulpes vulpes
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English: Red fox
German: Fuchs
French: Renard rouge
Spanish: Zorro rojo
Structure of the hair
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The microscopic structure of the skin
surface is furrowed, covered by wide hair
follicles with sunken edges. The average
follicle contains a cluster of 6 to 12 hair
shafts.
The fine fur fibres are circular in The cuticular structure
cross-section, with a diameter of 12 to 19 of the fine fibres, 2000x
µm. The cuticular scales are comb-like with
a smooth scale surface and straight margins. The medulla is wide, unbroken
and central symmetrical-shaped in cross-section. The overall medullar
structure belongs to the uniserial ladder type with a granular infilling
material.
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Vulpes vulpes
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English: Red fox
German: Fuchs
French: Renard rouge
Spanish: Zorro rojo
The intermediate fibres are either cir-
cular or ellipsoidal in cross-section; the
diameter is between 20 and 40 µm. The
cuticular scales are comb-like with a smooth
surface and straight scale margins. The
medullar column is wide, unbroken and cen-
tral symmetrical-shaped in cross-sectional
outline. The overall medullar structure is
of the uniserial ladder type and, in the Longitudinal section
upper part of the shaft, usually of the of a fine fur fibre, 1000x
lattice type. The detailed structure of the
medullar infilling material is of the perforated sheet-like type.
The guard hairs have a diameter of 40 to 85 µm. The cross-sectional
outline is circular or ellipsoidal. The cuticular scales are even tile-like
or crenated tile-like with a smooth surface and straight scale margins. The
medulla is wide, unbroken and central symmetrical-shaped. The overall
medullar structure belongs to the spongy-lattice-like type or to the
lattice-sponge-like type. The infilling material is of a foam-like structure.
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Vulpes vulpes
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English: Red fox
German: Fuchs
French: Renard rouge
Spanish: Zorro rojo
The surface structure
of the skin, 200x
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Vulpes vulpes
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English: Red fox
German: Fuchs
French: Renard rouge
Spanish: Zorro rojo
Longitudinal section
of a guard hair, 600x
Numerical code for red fox skin structure
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Surface of the skin: 3-1-3
Fine fur fibres: 1-6-1-1-2-1-1-1-6-12.18-8.35
Intermediate fibres: 2.1-6-1-1-2-1-1-1.8-2-20.41-15.41
Guard hairs: 2.1-2.4-1-1-2-1-1-6.11-5-40.85-20.55
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