Polar Bears only Look White


werewolf won

werewolf won

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I've been tying some flies with "Nothern Bear fur" I was surprise at how clear the fur looked so I did some research.

Polar bear fur lacks any pigment and appears transparent under a microscope. The inherent porosity in the polar bear fur scatters light making their transparent hair appear white. Similar effects can be seen in synthetic insulation and advanced ceramic products. Ceramics like aluminum oxide are normally white because they are made from a powder and some porosity is retained after densification. If aluminum oxide is made fully dense by hot pressing or doping, then it becomes transparent.

And their skin is black to absorb heat.

Nature never fails to amaze

Wolf
 
Watching David Attenborough's Frozen planet last night. It was the episode on Autumn.
Dem bears looked brown to me. (They'd been on land for the last 3 or 4 months and hadn't had much in the way of a bath in all that time.)
 
werewolf won said:
The inherent porosity in the polar bear fur scatters light making their transparent hair appear white.
Wolf
Click to expand...

I have always been told that they appear white because they are reflecting light from the snow. I had problems with this as you could see them in zoos without snow or ice or even swimming in water and they still look white. The explanation you gave is a lot clearer and and makes sense. Thanks.
 
Great trivia question . What does an Indigo Bunting and a Polar Bear have in common .
Answer " refracted light " Indigo Buntings are black except in bright sunlight due to refracted light .
 
As an after thought.Maybe my hair is transparent and the pink skin is just showing through!
Hey, I'm not bald after all.

flaviln
 
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"I'd like to see some of those flies your tying sometime. "

Nothing special, I use the hair as wing material on several patterns. Clear antron yarn works about as well.

Wolf
 
Picked up that same tidbit watching animal planet or something with my oldest daughter a few years back. She loves animals and would watch hours of animal shows if we let her. Nevertheless, thanks for posting the cool info, and thank you D-DUB for the awesome pics.....impressive view of the buisness end of that female. Marvelous creatures, just beautiful!
 
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