Date: October 2, 2018
Source: Université de Genève
Summary:
An intricate
network of minuscule crevices adorns the skin surface of the African bush
elephant. By retaining water and mud, these micrometer-wide channels greatly
help elephants in regulating their body temperature and protecting their skin
against parasites and intense solar radiation. Today, researchers at the
University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, and the SIB Swiss Institute of
Bioinformatics report in the journal Nature Communications that
African elephant skin channels are true fractures of the animal brittle and
desquamation-deficient skin outermost layer. The scientists show that the
elephant hyperkeratinised skin grows on a lattice of millimetric elevations,
causing its fracture due to local bending mechanical stress.
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