There are animals with soft fur, and then there is the chirú, which has the finest hair in nature.
He chiru either tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii) exhibits strands of hair 7 to 10 micrometers (one-thousandth of a millimeter) in diameter, one-tenth the thickness of a human hair.
Chiru
The chirú is a species of medium-sized artiodactyl mammal of the subfamily Antilopinae native to the Tibetan Plateau, northern India and certain regions of Nepal and central China.
However, the trade in the wool of this mountain animal, known as shahtoosh, has caused a drastic decrease in its population.
Shahtoosh Shawl
Shahtoosh (also spelled Shatush), a Persian word meaning "Pleasure of Kings", is the name given to a particular type of shawl, woven using the strands of the fur of the Tibetan antelope or chirú, by the weavers of Kashmir. Several chiru must be sacrificed to obtain the amount of material needed to make a Shahtoosh shawl.
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The news
This animal's hair is ten times finer than human hair.
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.