Seals use whisker movement to follow underwater trails—an approach that could improve robotic sensing

Seals are carnivorous marine mammals that are well adapted to hunting for fish underwater, where visibility is poor. In such conditions, seals rely on their highly sensitive whiskers to detect tiny water movements left behind by swimming fish. Like rats and cats, seals also move or “whisk” their whiskers back and forth, but the benefit of this motion was long unclear. New research by University of Groningen Ph.D. student Chinmay Gupta, Professor Ajay Kottapalli, and colleagues shows that active whisking improves sensing, helping seals accurately follow underwater trails. The findings are published in the journal npj Flexible Electronics.

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