Welcome to Rotomblr, professor!
I am a lab assistant in Unova working in materials science. The lab I work at is focused on biomimetic materials. As such, we have performed a lot of evaluations of live Pokémon, as well as materials harvested from Pokémon. Oftentimes harvested materials are less resilient than if they were still part of a live Pokémon. In the case of parts which are perfused by blood, it's often a lack of energy supply. Sometimes, though, a lack of circulatory or nervous connection doesn't fully explain the degradation: Zangoose claws are almost entirely separated from any blood supply, yet still suffer from weakening when removed from a donor.
Do you believe this might have any connection with your field of study?
From @pokematlab
While it's not exactly my field of study, I can still give you an answer!
The claws of a zangoose (and other similar pokémon) become more brittle when removed from the body because, while there's little to no blood supply, the body provides nutrients, moisture, and structural support. When removed, assuming that the claw is keratin (this depends on the pokémon, but for zangoose it is), the keratin that makes up the claw dies and causes it to become significantly weaker. I hope that's a sufficient answer, and thank you for coming to me for help! If you need anything else relating to this topic, please reply under this post; and thank you for welcoming me. It's very appreciated. :-)
