On New Years Eve my wife struck and killed a four-point buck with her van. Lots of damage to the front end of her van. There were some hairs stuck in the damaged fender and I mounted a few in balsam on a slide.
We live in a mountainous wooded area south of Allentown, Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Game Commission estimates there are about 60 White-Tailed Deer per square mile in our area and the sight of road kills around here is very common.
I found two types of hairs in the sample.
The first is the hairs that give the deer their reddish coat color.
In the winter, the deer go from a reddish color to a gray color.
This hair appears to hollow when I examine the broken ends of the hair. It may be some kind of insulator to trap warm air inside in the cold of winter.
White-Tailed Deer Hairs
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White-Tailed Deer Hairs
Michael Reese Much FRMS EMS Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA