Chinchilla hair (Chinchilla lanigera) Science Image

Ref: 80019085



Chinchilla hair. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of chinchilla hairs. Chinchillas, rodents in the family Chinchillidae, have the densest fur of any animal. Up to 70 hairs can grow from a single follicle, whereas in humans a follicle houses a single hair. The hair is also uniform, with few, if any, guard hairs, and at under 1 micrometre in diameter is approximately 500 times finer than human hair. Chinchillas are native to the Andes mountains of South America, but are kept as pets in countries worldwide. Magnification x1295 at 10cm wide.