fur
fur
[fər]furring
Fur
an animal pelt used to make fur goods. Animals are hunted for their fur by rifle or traps; furs are also obtained from animals raised on fur farms (seeFUR FARMING). The classification of furs as winter or spring furs derives from the season of their procurement. Winter furs are obtained from animals that do not hibernate. Nonhibernating fur bearers include the panther, squirrel, wolf, otter, desman, ermine, rabbit, Siberian weasel, wildcat, marten, red fox, mink, muskrat, arctic fox, lynx, sable, tiger, and polecat. Some animals hibernate or spend the winter in deep burrows, and, despite the high quality of their pelts during this period, their furs must be procured in the spring or summer. Such furs, commonly known as spring furs, include pelts from the badger, chipmunk, mole, rat, fat dormouse, marmot, suslik, tarbagan, and hamster.
Fur quality depends on numerous properties of the pelt. These include color, highlights, luster, length, thickness, softness, elasticity, and felting ability. Other properties include the thickness, density, and toughness of the skin tissue and the heat retention, size, and weight of the pelt. These properties are determined by conditions of habitation (underground, above-ground, or amphibious), individual differences or deviations (individual variation), geography (geographic variation), time of year (seasonal variation), and age (age variation).
Individual variations are reflected primarily in the color, length, thickness, and softness of the hair covering and in the size of the pelts. Such variations are especially noticeable in the sable, arctic fox, red fox, and squirrel. The furs of the Kamchatka and Middle Asian foxes serve as an example of sharply pronounced geographic variation: the pelt of the fox found in the Kamchatka peninsula is large and has a luxurious and silky flaming-red hair, whereas the pelt of the fox found in Central Asian republics of the USSR is relatively small and has short, sparse, somewhat coarse light-gray or pale-yellow hair. Such variation may be caused by climatic conditions and by mimicry. During the transition from winter to summer, changes occur in the fur’s thickness, length, luster, softness and, in some animals, color (for example, the blue hare). The thickness, density, and color of the skin tissue may also change.
Among animals that do not hibernate, molting occurs in the spring and summer (except for the mole). Animals that pass the winter in a state of deep sleep change their hair covering once a year, in the summer. The pelt of an animal is most valuable after molting.
International fur auctions, which account for 70–80 percent of Soviet fur exports, have been held in Leningrad since 1931. In March 1932, 35 representatives from eight countries took part in the auctions, purchasing approximately $1.5 million worth of goods. In January 1974, 249 representatives from 27 countries attended the 66th auction; the value of the furs sold was approximately $25 million. Some auctions draw as many as 300 to 350 representatives from fur companies of 25 to 27 countries. In addition to Soviet goods, the furs of other countries, including North Korea, Mongolia, Poland, and Norway, are also sold at the auction. The auctions are held each year in January, July, and October.
L. P. GAIDAROV
Fur
(also For, Forawa), a people living in the western part of the Republic of the Sudan, in the mountainous region of Gebel Marrah, Darfur Province. The Fur number approximately 350,000 (1973, estimate). Their language is Fur, one of the languages of eastern and central Sudan. By religion they are Sunnite Muslims. The Fur constituted the main population of the Darfur sultanate, which existed from the 16th century to 1916. Their chief occupations are irrigated farming (rice, garden crops, cotton) and the breeding of cattle, sheep, and camels.
Fur
(also Darfurian, Kondjara), the language of the Fur nationality, which inhabits Darfur Province in the western part of the Democratic Republic of the Sudan. According to a 1973 estimate, there are approximately 350,000 speakers of Fur.
Fur has been tentatively classified as a Nilo-Saharan language. It has a limited consonant system; vowels are divided, by degree of height, into four categories. The language shows a great degree of inflection. Grammatical distinctions are expressed through prefixes and suffixes; the verb, in addition, makes use of internal inflection: und-ɔ (“I was gathering”), b-ut-ɔ (“he was gathering”). The verb has many conjugations and tense forms, and there are many plural forms in the noun, adjective, and numeral. Case is indicated by agglutinative suffixes.
REFERENCES
Zyhlarz, E. “Das Verbum im Kondjara.” Anthropos, 1926, vol. 21.Tucker, A. N., and M. A. Bryan. Linguistic Analyses: The Non-Bantu Languages of North-Eastern Africa. London-New York-Cape Town, 1966.
Greenberg, J. H. The Languages of Africa, 2nd ed. The Hague, 1966.