Chemical composition and mineral contents differentiation in hairs of some wild animal species

The present study investigates the hair chemical traits of some wild animal species. american black bear (ursus americanus),blue nile monkey (cercopithecus mitis),barbary sheep (ammotracus lervia),bactrian camel (camelus bactrianus) and llama (lama glama) were studied at giza zoo,giza,egypt. fat,ash,nitrogen and total protein content as well as the concentration of some minerals (calcium,magnesium,potassium,sodium,phosphorus and copper) were determined on hair. results showed that the american black bear reported the highest values among all species for fat,ash,nitrogen and total protein,while the other species could be arranged as follows: blue nile monkey,llama,bactrian camel and barbary sheep,respectively. from our findings,it was found that the darkest hair showed the higher concentration of minerals than lighter colored hair. thus,it can be concluded hair coloration is highly correlated to chemical traits and mineral concentration in hair of different wild animal species. copyright 2015 zoological society of pakistan.