Spatial arrangement of the whiskers of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) compared with whisker arrangements of house mice (Mus musculus) and brown rats (Rattus norvegicus).

ABSTRACT: Whiskers (vibrissae) are important tactile sensors for most mammals. We introduce a novel approach to quantitatively compare 3D geometry of whisker arrays across species with different whisker numbers and arrangements, focusing on harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), house mice (Mus musculus) and Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus). Whiskers of all three species decrease in arclength and increase in curvature from caudal to rostral. They emerge from the face with elevation angles that vary linearly with dorsoventral position, and with curvature orientations that vary diagonally as linear combinations of dorsoventral and rostrocaudal positions. In seals, this diagonal varies linearly with horizontal emergence angles, and is orthogonal to the diagonal for rats and mice. This work provides the first ev

SUBMITTER: Graff MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11634035 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature