How do animals with white fur manage to keep it clean all the time, even after killing a animal and getting covered with its blood. Usually white is the hardest coulor to keep clean as it stains easily.
In: Biology
Fur isn’t the same as fabric. To start with the fur usually has oils and other secretions which make it resistant to fluids (kind of like natural scotch guard). Also the fur doesn’t have the criss-cross of fibres the way a woven fabric does. The weaving makes lots of little spots for things to collect in and stain. Fur by contrast doesn’t really have any similar spots for the dirt (blood, etc…) to collect in.
They don’t. We have a white outside cat that often comes in with a mustache or other sorts of dirt on her. It eventually comes off, usually in a few days.
In the wild, I imagine that being in water or the weather helps get rid of it fairly quickly.
My white cat was absolutely fastidious about his fur. I’ve seen him lick the same spot 20 times in a row before moving on to another spot.
Of course, I’ve had other non-white cats do the same.
It’s not a white cat thing, it’s a cat thing.
Hair is really hard to stain permanently. That’s why hair dyes usually involve pretty harsh chemicals, and if done poorly can severely damage the hair. Even then, a lot of colors fade over time and have to be reapplied.
Depends on the animal. But I have a white Husky, and their fur has an oleophobic oil coating.
What that means in practice is that mud (and probably blood as well) falls off as soon as it dries. She can literally roll around in mud, be visibly filthy, and it’ll all disappear within 30 minutes.
This is in stark contrast to other breeds of dogs that don’t have the same oil coating on their fur.
Hair is really hard to stain permanently. That’s why hair dyes usually involve pretty harsh chemicals, and if done poorly can severely damage the hair. Even then, a lot of colors fade over time and have to be reapplied.
My dog has taught me that with enough shedding any coat can look as good as new pretty quickly.
Animal fur is a type of hair, not a type of fabric. Your hair doesn’t dye red if you get blood on it.
Hair has lots of fluid-repellent properties because its covered with oils and because of the way it’s built.
Animals with lots of fur also tend to spend a lot of time grooming, meaning they clean their fur with their tongues, hands/paws, or water.
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