underwool

The thermal properties of reindeer fur are legendary: it has a thick felty layer of underwool and long thick guard hairs that appear to be hollow, but on inspection under a microscope each hair turns out to have a core of vacuolated, keratinised cells.

Its hair is more like that of a goat than a sheep, of a brownish gray colour, and with a dense coat of underwool.

The larger varieties, viz. the red and the great, do not usually interest furriers, the fur being harsh and poor without underwool.

It has, however, of later years been “unhaired,” the underwool clipped very even and then dyed seal colour, in which way very useful and attractive garments are supplied at less than half the cost of the cheaper sealskins.

Black bears have occasionally very black coats, but the majority have a brownish underwool.