Hair Morphology Examination of Badger Meles Meles (L., 1758) in Turkey By Using Light And Scanning Electron Microscopes

Abstract

In this study, the hairs of the badger (Meles meles) in the collection and various museums were examined and was tried to determine whether there were variations. For the morphological analysis of the guard hair samples taken from the middle part of the ridge, the guard hairs were examined by both light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The root of the guard hairs on the back and sides was dirty white, the body was brownish black and the tip was white. The length of the hairs on the back and sides was determined to be about 75 mm. It was determined that 21 of the samples had summer fur, the dorsal part had brown and transition tones had dark brown hairs, and 4 had winter fur, the dorsal part had grayish brown hairs and the ventral part had blackish light brown hairs. In addition, winter fur was found to be covered more frequently and with long guard hairs