Whiskers

Whiskers, also known as vibrissae (; sing. vibrissa; ), are specialized sensory hairs that help most species of mammals sense their environment. Whiskers function as highly sensitive feelers that help mammals navigate the world in many different ways, including the detection of air currents and physical objects to aid in navigation, hunting, and spatial awareness. Whiskers can trigger reflexes to protect the eyes. Whiskers also play a significant role in the communication between individual animals in different species of mammals. They convey an animal's emotional state, essentially sending a message to other members of their species about what emotion they are feeling at the time. Whisker movement can be thought of as a form of language that animals use to silently communicate with the other animals around them. Whiskers grow in clusters at various places around the body, including above the eyes, on the chin, on the forelegs, near the ears, and above the upper lip. Most mammals have whiskers, including all non-human primates, marsupials, and especially nocturnal mammals. Monotremes, however, lack them. Whiskers are sensitive tactile hairs that aid navigation, locomotion, exploration, hunting, social touch and perform other functions. While mammals are the only animals that grow whiskers, other classes of animal species are known to have similar structures that are also used to sense the environment. Species with structures that function similarly to whiskers include different species of birds, fish, insects, crustaceans, and other arthropods.