Research: Touch sensing in mammals
Understanding the arrangement and sensation of mammal whiskers using anatomy, behaviour, modelling and robotics.
Summary
Research summary
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January 2018 to September 2024
Most mammals have whiskers - specialised touch-sensitive hairs that guide orientation, movement and foraging - but numbers, arrangements, shapes and lengths differ across species.
Our research explores the effect of whisker shape on whisker mechanics using novel mathematical algorithms.
Differences in whisker shape are likely to affect the mechanics of the whisker and the sensations within the follicle. Sensations the brain uses to identify what the whiskers have contacted and where it is.
We test our theories of whisker shape and positioning on robot platforms and in behaving animals - allowing us to make recommendations for tactile robot sensor design and control.
This has applications for robotic exploration in environments where visual information is either unreliable or restricted, such as marine archaeology, environmental monitoring, and search and rescue operations.
Our research also helps to:
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improve our understanding of mammalian sensory biology
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help inform sensory enrichment protocols in captive mammals
We work closely with zoos and aquaria to develop sensory enrichment devices that encourage natural whisker positioning and movements in captive mammals.
And we believe that whisker arrangement can be a useful tool for species and individual identification.
Research outputs
Academic papers
- Mynett, N, Mossman, HL, Huettner, T and Grant, RA (2021) Diversity of vibrissal follicle anatomy in cetaceans The Anatomical Record
- Milne, AO, Muchlinski, MN, Orton, LD, Sullivan, MS and Grant, RA (2021. Comparing vibrissal morphology and infraorbital foramen area in pinnipeds The Anatomical Record
- Grant, RA and Goss, VGA (2021) What can whiskers tell us about mammalian evolution, behaviour, and ecology? Mammal Review
- Dougill, G, Starostin, EL, Milne, AO, van der Heijden, GHM and Goss, VGA et al (2020) Ecomorphology reveals Euler spiral of mammalian whiskers Journal of Morphology 281(10), pp1271-1279
- Milne, AO, Smith, C, Orton, LD, Sullivan, MS and Grant, RA (2020) Pinnipeds orient and control their whiskers: a study on Pacific walrus, California sea lion and Harbor seal Journal of Comparative Physiology A
- Starostin, EL, Grant, RA, Dougill, G, van der Heijden, GHM and Goss, VGA (2020) The Euler spiral of rat whiskers Science Advances 6(3), pp.eaax5145-eaax5145
- Simanaviciute, U, Ahmed, J, Brown, RE, Connor-Robson, N and Farr, TD et al (2019) Recommendations for measuring whisker movements and locomotion in mice with sensory, motor and cognitive deficits Journal of Neuroscience Methods 331, pp108532-108532
- Gillespie, D, Yap, MH, Hewitt, BM, Driscoll, H and Simanaviciute, U et al (2019) Description and validation of the LocoWhisk system: Quantifying rodent exploratory, sensory and motor behaviours Journal of Neuroscience Methods 328, pp108440-108440
- Grant, R, Wong, A, Fertan,E and Brown, R (2018) Whisker exploration behaviours in the 5xFAD mouse are affected by sex and retinal degeneration Genes, Brain and Behavior
- Muchlinski, MN, Wible, JR, Corfe, I, Sullivan, M and Grant, RA (2018) Good Vibrations: the evolution of whisking in small mammals Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology
- Grant, RA, Breakell, V and Prescott, TJ (2018) Whisker touch sensing guides locomotion in small, quadrupedal mammals Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences 285(1880)
Articles and podcasts
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Grant, Robyn (2020) How we found a special maths equation hidden in rat whiskers, In: The Conversation
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What can we learn from cats whiskers? BBC Digital Planet podcast
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The science of whiskers, Tumble podcast
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Dormice use their whiskers to ‘see’ in the dark, Natural History Museum podcast
Team
Research team
Lead researchers
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Dr Alyx Milne
Co-researchers
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Dr Geoff Goss, London South Bank University
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Prof Matt Carré, University of Sheffield
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Prof Nathan Lepora, University of Bristol
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Prof Tony Prescott, University of Sheffield
Collaborating with:
Funding
With funding from
The Royal Society
EPSRC
Friction Innovation Fund
BBSRC Discovery Fellowships
Contact
Contact us
For general enquiries about our Conservation, Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour research group, you can contact its leads Dr Robyn Grant and Dr Sue Anne Zollinger.
