Felted

The dermis is described in Gray's Anatomy as "felted connective tissue, with a varying amount of elastic fibers and numerous blood vessels, lymphatics, and nerves.

[5] The ground-dwelling mice species of the genus Mus in parts of Africa build spherical nests of assorted fibres in burrows or under large flat objects.

Naturalist James Rennie remarked, "A circumstance also never neglected, is to bind the nest firmly into the forks of the bush where it is placed, by twining bands of moss, felted with wool, round all the contiguous branches, both below and at the sides.

"[citation needed] During the nesting season such birds commonly become such avid seekers of suitable materials that down feathers or tufts of wool may be used as bait for trapping them.

For example, the common eider (Somateria mollissima), famous for the valuable down harvested from its abandoned nests, lays its eggs in very lightly felted bowls of its own down for insulation.

[11] Burying beetles of genus Nicrophorus are known for stripping the fur or feathers from the carcasses that they prepare for their young, then using the material to line and reinforce the crypt that they dig.

French naturalist and entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre demonstrated that the species he investigated did not depend on feathered or hairy food items and were capable of using reptiles, amphibians and fish.

The lids of various species of trapdoor spider burrows vary in their construction, but they are largely of earth and similar material reinforced with partly felted silk.