News Release

Study reveals that an under-studied subset of whiskers, the supra-orbital whiskers, act as wind antennae in rats, enabling them to sense the direction of airflow and adjust their behavior accordingly

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

Study reveals that an under-studied subset of whiskers, the supra-orbital whiskers, act as wind antennae in rats, enabling them to sense the direction of airflow and adjust their behavior accordingly

image: Animals rely on sensory processing of airflow (anemotaxis) to guide navigation and survival. Mugnaini and co-authors combine anatomical, electrophysiological, and behavioral analyses to reveal that an under-studied subset of whiskers, the supra-orbital whiskers, act as wind antennae in rats, thus enabling them to sense the direction of airflow and adjust their behavior accordingly. view more 

Credit: Ana Rita Mendes created this image using DALL-E and owns it. They are making it available under CC-BY 4.0 (CC-BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Biology:   http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002168

Article Title: Supra-orbital whiskers act as wind-sensing antennae in rats

Author Countries: United States, Argentina, Canada, Uruguay, Portugal, Germany, United Kingdom

Funding: see manuscript

Journal

PLOS Biology

DOI

10.1371/journal.pbio.3002168

COI Statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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