whiskers
thumb|A cat with vibrissae thumb|A chinchilla with large macrovibrissae
Research
7,238 papers- What the whiskers tell the brain.Neuroscience · 2018
- Neural coding: A single neuron's perspective.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2018
- Supra-orbital whiskers act as wind-sensing antennae in rats.PLoS biology · 2023
- [What the whiskers tell the tactile brain].Medecine sciences : M/S · 2014
- The functional anatomy of elephant trunk whiskers.Communications biology · 2023
via PubMed
Article
20 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Evolution
- Anatomy
- Vibrissal groups
- Vibrissae
- Operation
- Movement
- Function
- Marine mammals
- Lines of research
- Neuroscience
- Evolutionary biology
- Artificial whiskers
- In non-mammals
- In birds
- In fish
- In pterosaurs
- Gallery
- References
- External links
thumb|A cat with vibrissae thumb|A chinchilla with large macrovibrissae
Whiskers, also known as vibrissae (; vibrissa; ), are specialized sensory hairs that help most species of mammals sense their environment. Whiskers function as highly sensitive feelers that help mammals navigate the world in many different ways, including the detection of air currents and physical objects to aid in navigation, hunting, and spatial awareness. Whiskers can trigger reflexes to protect the eyes. Whiskers also play a significant role in the communication between individual animals in different species of mammals. They convey an animal's emotional state, essentially sending a message to other members of their species about what emotion they are feeling at the time. Whisker movement can be thought of as a form of language that animals use to silently communicate with the other animals around them.