A comparative study of human and animal hairs: Microscopic hair comparison and cytochrome c oxidase I species identification

Human and animal hairs have been used in forensic investigations for over a century. Hair is stable under adverse natural conditions; hence, it is often recovered at the crime scene, and it is necessary to determine whether the hair is of human or animal origin. Morphological and genetic characteristics are useful to differentiate human hair from animal hair. In the present study, we analyzed the distinguishing characteristics of hair of various species. In addition, we explore species identification by cytochrome c oxidase I mitochondrial gene analysis. We confirm that both the microscopic and molecular analyses of hairs are useful in forensic investigations.