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Generally, integument can be divided into two part which is epidermis and dermis.
Epidermis gives rise to most derivatives of integuments such as the hair, feathers, claws and
hooves. Meanwhile dermis contain blood vessels, collagenous fibers, nerves, pigment cells,
fat cells and connective tissues cells called fibro blasts. The epidermis is a stratified
squamous epithelium consisting usually of several layers of cells. The basal part is made up
of cells that undergo frequent mitosis to renew layers that lie above. As outer layers of cells
are displayed upward by new generations of cell beneath, called keratin. Gradually, keratins
replaces all metabolically active cytoplasm. The cell dies and eventually shed, lifeless and
scalelike. This process called keratinization. The dermis, as already mentioned, mainly
serves a supportive role for the epidermis.
Mammals characteristically have 2 kinds of hair forming the pelage ( fur coat): (1)
dense and soft under-hair for insulation and (2) coarse and longer guard hair for protection
against wear and to provide coloration. Under-hair traps a layer of insulating air. The
integument of polar bear generally has two layers of hair. The outer protective layer consists
of long, coarse guard hairs and the inner layer is composed of softer intermediate hairs or
underfur. Polars bears guard hairs are medullated ( having sheath). The fur of a polar bear is
either white or tan and very thick. They have several layers of it to keep them warm in the
colder region. They also have layers of blubber that further insulate them as the colder times
of the year approach. Although polar bears have both white and transparent fur, their skin is
actually black and can absorb heat better from the sunlight. Thick fur of polar bear keep their
bodies warms in the very cold regions where they live.
The skin of elephant is not equally thick at all locations of the body. The thicker skin is found
on the head, back and buttock. Known as pachyderms, the name is derived from the Latin
words for thick (pachy) and skin (derm) and means, quite literally, thick-skin., an
elephant's skin is not as thick as it may appear, but in other places, it is as thin as paper.
People who touch an elephants skin for the first time often describe it as like an eraser.The
skin is a highly sensitive organ with a rich nerve supply. Like other mammals, the skin is
composed of two major layers (dermis and epidermis), include glands and hair follicles. The
colour of skin is darker (brown or reddish) in African elephants. An elephant has no sweat
glands and cannot use them for thermoregulation; mud trapped in the folds of the skin along
with the flapping of its ears help to keep the elephant cool.
Elephants have evolved many folds in their skin layers, giving them their baggy and
wrinkled appearance. The folds increasing the overall surface area of the skin, which
provides more space to allow for the dispersion of body heat and this feature may help in
slow down the evaporation process and thus cool them. The wrinkles also are the main
reason elephants will mud bath. The initial cooling of the wet mud helps the elephant cool
down instantly. Moisture trapped in all of the wrinkles continues to cool the elephant even
after it leaves the mud source. The skin's main purpose is to help keep the elephant cool.
The wrinkles on the skin are designed to produce more surface area through which heat can
be dissipated. African elephants have the biggest ears in the world. Their ears are bigger
because it is hotter on the open tropical plains, and the ears are designed to lose heat.
Behind the ears is the area where large amounts of blood vessels are found close to the skin
surface. Warm blood passing through these blood vessels is cooled before recirculating
throughout the body. The skin also helps to disperse an elephants body heat, cooling the
animal.
Temporal or musth gland, an adapted sebaceous gland is
located midway between eye and ear on the temple on
both sides of the head. The glands are covered with skin
that is 2 or more cm thick. The glands produce chemical
substances important in elephant reproduction.
Extra interesting facts:
What if elephants had sweat glands after all?
If the elephant would have perspiratory glands, his skin
would mostly be bathed in perspiration because an
elephant weighing about 2000 kg has a skin surface of
roughly 112000 cm. A rat weighing 300 grams has a body
surface of 300 cm. This means that in comparison with his weight, an elephant only has
1/18 of a rats body surface. Smaller creatures can therefore give away their body heat
better than elephants and perspire much less.
How are the skin and diet related?
Elephants take food containing less energy than smaller creatures or humans do for not
feeling too hot all the time. This is a reason why elephants grow so tall with a vegetable diet.
If they would eat meat, fat and sugar, they could not anymore equalize their body
temperature independent of the air temperature and so could not survive anymore.