Abstract: Bovine hair waste in tannery is an important keratin resource. Methacrylated keratin hydrogels are prepared through crosslinking reaction between methacrylic anhydride and keratin extracted by reduction method from tannery bovine hair waste (K-SH). The reaction mechanism between methacrylic anhydride and K-SH has been studied by UV spectrophotometer, FTIR, 1H NMR and XPS. The results indicate that acylation reaction occur between the amino groups on the K-SH molecular chain and methacrylic anhydride to introduce vinyl groups, which can be reacted with thiol groups on the structure of K-SH via thiol-ene reaction. Meanwhile, methacrylic acid is formed during the acylation reaction, and it can also react with thiol groups on K-SH through thiol-ene reaction. Thereby, Methacrylated keratin hydrogels with three-dimensional network structure are obtained.