Pinnipeds orient and control their whiskers: a study on Pacific walrus, California sea lion and Harbor seal
Abstract Whisker touch is an active sensory system. Previous studies in Pinnipeds have adopted relatively stationary tasks to judge tactile sensitivity, which may not accurately promote natural whisker movements and behaviours. This study developed a novel feeding task, termed fish sweeping to encou...
Published in: | Journal of Comparative Physiology A |
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Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2020
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00359-020-01408-8 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00359-020-01408-8.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00359-020-01408-8/fulltext.html |
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crspringernat:10.1007/s00359-020-01408-8 2023-05-15T16:33:05+02:00 Pinnipeds orient and control their whiskers: a study on Pacific walrus, California sea lion and Harbor seal Milne, Alyxandra O. Smith, Catherine Orton, Llwyd D. Sullivan, Matthew S. Grant, Robyn A. 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00359-020-01408-8 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00359-020-01408-8.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00359-020-01408-8/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Journal of Comparative Physiology A volume 206, issue 3, page 441-451 ISSN 0340-7594 1432-1351 Behavioral Neuroscience Animal Science and Zoology Physiology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-020-01408-8 2022-01-04T16:40:46Z Abstract Whisker touch is an active sensory system. Previous studies in Pinnipeds have adopted relatively stationary tasks to judge tactile sensitivity, which may not accurately promote natural whisker movements and behaviours. This study developed a novel feeding task, termed fish sweeping to encourage whisker movements. Head and whisker movements were tracked from video footage in Harbor seal ( Phoca vitulina ), California sea lion ( Zalophus californianus ) and Pacific walrus ( Odobenus rosmarus divergens ). All species oriented their head towards the moving fish target and moved their whiskers during the task. Some species also engaged in whisker control behaviours, including head-turning asymmetry in the Pacific walrus, and contact-induced asymmetry in the Pacific walrus and California sea lion: behaviours that have only previously been observed in terrestrial mammals. This study confirms that Pinnipeds should be thought of as whisker specialists, and that whisker control (movement and positioning) is an important aspect of touch sensing in these animals, especially in sea lions and walruses. That the California sea lion controls whisker movement in relation to an object, and also had large values of whisker amplitude, spread and asymmetry, suggests that California sea lions are a promising model with which to further explore active touch sensing. Article in Journal/Newspaper harbor seal Odobenus rosmarus Phoca vitulina walrus* Springer Nature (via Crossref) Pacific Journal of Comparative Physiology A 206 3 441 451 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
Behavioral Neuroscience Animal Science and Zoology Physiology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Behavioral Neuroscience Animal Science and Zoology Physiology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Milne, Alyxandra O. Smith, Catherine Orton, Llwyd D. Sullivan, Matthew S. Grant, Robyn A. Pinnipeds orient and control their whiskers: a study on Pacific walrus, California sea lion and Harbor seal |
topic_facet |
Behavioral Neuroscience Animal Science and Zoology Physiology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Abstract Whisker touch is an active sensory system. Previous studies in Pinnipeds have adopted relatively stationary tasks to judge tactile sensitivity, which may not accurately promote natural whisker movements and behaviours. This study developed a novel feeding task, termed fish sweeping to encourage whisker movements. Head and whisker movements were tracked from video footage in Harbor seal ( Phoca vitulina ), California sea lion ( Zalophus californianus ) and Pacific walrus ( Odobenus rosmarus divergens ). All species oriented their head towards the moving fish target and moved their whiskers during the task. Some species also engaged in whisker control behaviours, including head-turning asymmetry in the Pacific walrus, and contact-induced asymmetry in the Pacific walrus and California sea lion: behaviours that have only previously been observed in terrestrial mammals. This study confirms that Pinnipeds should be thought of as whisker specialists, and that whisker control (movement and positioning) is an important aspect of touch sensing in these animals, especially in sea lions and walruses. That the California sea lion controls whisker movement in relation to an object, and also had large values of whisker amplitude, spread and asymmetry, suggests that California sea lions are a promising model with which to further explore active touch sensing. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Milne, Alyxandra O. Smith, Catherine Orton, Llwyd D. Sullivan, Matthew S. Grant, Robyn A. |
author_facet |
Milne, Alyxandra O. Smith, Catherine Orton, Llwyd D. Sullivan, Matthew S. Grant, Robyn A. |
author_sort |
Milne, Alyxandra O. |
title |
Pinnipeds orient and control their whiskers: a study on Pacific walrus, California sea lion and Harbor seal |
title_short |
Pinnipeds orient and control their whiskers: a study on Pacific walrus, California sea lion and Harbor seal |
title_full |
Pinnipeds orient and control their whiskers: a study on Pacific walrus, California sea lion and Harbor seal |
title_fullStr |
Pinnipeds orient and control their whiskers: a study on Pacific walrus, California sea lion and Harbor seal |
title_full_unstemmed |
Pinnipeds orient and control their whiskers: a study on Pacific walrus, California sea lion and Harbor seal |
title_sort |
pinnipeds orient and control their whiskers: a study on pacific walrus, california sea lion and harbor seal |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00359-020-01408-8 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00359-020-01408-8.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00359-020-01408-8/fulltext.html |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
harbor seal Odobenus rosmarus Phoca vitulina walrus* |
genre_facet |
harbor seal Odobenus rosmarus Phoca vitulina walrus* |
op_source |
Journal of Comparative Physiology A volume 206, issue 3, page 441-451 ISSN 0340-7594 1432-1351 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-020-01408-8 |
container_title |
Journal of Comparative Physiology A |
container_volume |
206 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
441 |
op_container_end_page |
451 |
_version_ |
1766022807612817408 |