Morphological identification of animal hairs: Myths and misconceptions, possibilities and pitfalls

Highlights • We compare and contrast skill sets required for practitioners conducting human hair comparative analyses with those required attributing animal hairs to a particular taxon. • We discuss the consequences of ill trained or inexperienced practitioners attempting to identify animal hairs in the context of myths and misconceptions. • We will discuss the future of the microscopical identification of animal hairs in the context of SWGWILD. • We propose recommendations that should be adhered to in order to ensure quality practices in relation to the identification of animal hair.