Panthera leo
------------
English: Lion
German: L”we
French: Lion
Spanish: Le¢n
Distribution areas
------------------
The lion is the largest catlike beast
found in some areas of Africa or Asia.
About seven varieties of this animal
species are known but four of them disap-
peared this century.
Description of the fur The surface structure
---------------------- of the skin, 60x
The hide of the lion is up to 2 m long.
The male animals usually have expressive mane hairs. The coat is light-brown
or sandy in colour. The undercoat is only scarcely visible; the majority of
the fibres are long and coarse. The mane fibres are up to 300 to 400 mm long
and, in some cases, dark. The coarse hair fibres are usually from 20 to 40 mm
long.
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Panthera leo
------------
English: Lion
German: L”we
French: Lion
Spanish: Le¢n
Structure of the hair
---------------------
The microscopic structure of the skin is
furrowed with wide hair follicles which
have straight edges. The average follicle
contains 6 to 10 hair shafts.
The fine fur fibres are circular in
cross-section with a diameter measuring A group of the fine hairs,
from 10 to 20 µm. The cuticular scales are 400x
cornet-like with a smooth surface and
straight scale margins. In a few cases, the cuticular scales are
non-regularly grooved on the surface. These fine fibres are non-medullated.
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Panthera leo
------------
English: Lion
German: L”we
French: Lion
Spanish: Le¢n
The intermediate fibres have an
ellipsoidal cross-sectional outline with a
diameter of 25 to 60 µm; only the lowest
part of the shafts is circular. The
cuticular scales are even tile-like with a
smooth surface and straight scale margins.
The medulla is narrow, unbroken and central
symmetrical-shaped. The overall medullar
structure is spongelike, and in some cases The cuticular structure
also spongy-cortex-like. The infilling of the fine fibres, 1500x
material has a foam-like detailed structure.
The guard hairs are from 70 to 100 µm in diameter and are ellipsoidal in
cross-sectional outline. The cuticle is covered by even tile-like scales with
a smooth surface and straight or rippled scale margins. The medulla is wide,
unbroken, central symmetrical-shaped and belongs to the spongelike type with
a foam-like infilling substance.
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Panthera leo
------------
English: Lion
German: L”we
French: Lion
Spanish: Le¢n
Longitudinal section
of a guard hair, 600x
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Panthera leo
------------
English: Lion
German: L”we
French: Lion
Spanish: Le¢n
The cuticular structure
of a guard hair, 2000x
Numerical code for lion skin surface
------------------------------------
Surface of the skin: 3-2-3
Fine fur fibres: 1-5-1.3-1-4-0-0-0-0-10.21-5.15
Intermediate fibres: 2-2-1-1-3-1-1-5.7-5-25.61-15.41
Guard hairs: 2-2-1-1.2-2-1-1-5-5-70.101-20.41
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