Licht-im-Terrarium: Literaturdatenbank

If you are looking for the biggest land mammals, you will find them in northern Alaska, northern coast of Russia, Canada, Greenland and Norway. Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is immediately recognizable by the white fur; it can survive in such latitudes. In recent decades, scientists make an assumption that this bear’s fur keep it warm because each hair carries the sunlight to reach finally the pelt. To clarify this phenomenon, we were led to study the optical properties of polar bear hair in infrared and its microscopic structure. The optical responses are measured using the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), when the microscopic structures are viewed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The microscopic pictures of polar bear hair have shown internal structures that can explain the spectra of absorption. This later showed that the hair absorb a large proportion of infrared radiations. The interpretation of the results allowed us a better understanding of the optical mechanism advanced early in the polar bear and its adaptation to its environment.