The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued. Historically the trade stimulated the exploration and colonization of Siberia, northern North America, and the South Shetland and South Sandwich Islands.
A fur trader in Fort Chipewyan, Northwest Territories in the 1890s
A fur shop in Tallinn, Estonia in 2019
Fur muff manufacturer's 1949 advertisement
Cossacks collecting yasak in Siberia
Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of almost all mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket that keeps the animal warm.
Like many mammals, grizzly bears are covered in thick fur.
A leopard's disruptively colored coat provides camouflage for this ambush predator.
Opossum fur
Down, awn and guard hairs of a domestic tabby cat