Does an animals fur turn prime because of weather, tempertures or the does the amount of daylight in a day getting less make the fur turn? If we have a mild winter will it effect when the fur is ready to take? Should one start taking Texas coon on November 1st or wait until later? Thanks, Wild Ed

It's daylight that controls it.

good answer, good answer..

ours I have noticed seems to be right around dec 1 give or take a week.

It is the amount of light coming into their eyes, from what I read. I did notice it seemed the coons out in the open farm land seemed to prime a week or so earlier than the ones in say a river bottom where they were protected more from cold winds??T.20

there was a great post about this over at predatormasters. I thought I saved it but I cant find it now.

I belive it is called photosynthesis; it has to do with the amount of daylight available and not the temperature. It is mother nature's safety this way. If the animals were forced to rely on just temperature - then they would be unprepared when the first cold snap happens.

Same thing that makes the leaves fall off the trees...amount and angle of sunlight.

ANd birds fly south, and other animals ready themselves for hibernation

Photosynthesis is the process in which plants use sunlight for energy.

i can't believe you all are doing this to this guy. lol

wait. you all are serious, makes sense

I like this discussion, it really gets me wondering. For instance, If you take a northern minnestoa fox, today, mid august, down to some rain forest reasearch lab on the equator and start limiting the amount of daylight entering its eyes, will it in fact prime-up? Lets say we limit it to about 7 hours a day, just like it would get in minnesota in december, how long till it primes?

Did mammels continue thier normal fur loss - fur gain cycle during the last ice age? When the continent cooled did animals adapt and keep thier winter coats for longer periods of time?

My gut tells me that more than just daylight is at work, intersting though.

I don't think we really know for sure. It has been and always will be a topic of debate.

Chris Dwyer, an Ohio wildlife biologist who manages furbearer projects. Specifically, reduced hours of daylight trigger the secretion of a hormone that causes hair follicles to grower longer, thicker fur.

"That's what makes them grow a heavy fur coat," agrees Haubert, who periodically assists wildlife biologists on furbearer research. "It's not the cold weather.

[quote=Whisker Down]I like this discussion, it really gets me wondering. For instance, If you take a northern minnestoa fox, today, mid august, down to some rain forest reasearch lab on the equator and start limiting the amount of daylight entering its eyes, will it in fact prime-up?

No, the equator gets the most sunlight of any place on earth, if you took it to souther tip of south america, than yes the fur would prime up

Same here. I say daylight/day is the biggest factor but its not the only one.

So if we lock uncle fester in a windowless room all day will he grow his hair back?

No, brownie, I'm saying the experiement would limit the amount of daylight, not nature. Like using light filters, dark rooms, or something like that. The experiment would try to artifically force a minnesota fox into primeness in a tropical enviroment by simply limiting the amount of light entering its eyes. Would it work? I'd like to read the results of something like that, maybe its already been done. Mark June would probibly know if this has been done.

Photosynthesis.....


LMFAO

Photosynthesis..... This is used by the Fox farmers to bring the females into heat earlier and get them to reproduce 2-3 weeks earlier. You introduce artificial light at intervals
earlier in the late winter, early spring. Now you get a complete grown pup in December. Thus an extra size is big money for the fur farmer.
My $.02.