First-ever study shows that rats
use whiskers to locate source of airflow
Date: August 24, 2016
Source: Northwestern University
Many animals appear to have an
impressive ability to follow the wind to find food, avoid predators, and
connect with potential mates. Until now, however, no study had examined how
land mammals know the direction of the wind. New research finds that an important
part of this ability lies in an animal's whiskers. The work could pave the way
for the design of novel airflow measurement devices that imitate these
biological sensors.
A team of four PhD students
working with Northwestern University's Mitra Hartmann, professor of biomedical
and mechanical engineering in Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering,
report in the August 24 issue of Science Advances that rats use their
whiskers to help locate airflow sources.
To perform the experiment that
led to this discovery, Yan Yu and Matthew Graff, co-first authors of the work,
placed five, equally-spaced fans in a semicircle around the edge of a 6-foot
circular table. In each trial, one of the five fans was randomly selected to
blow air toward a "start-door" located on the opposite side of the
table. A rat had to run from the door toward the fan blowing air, and go down a
rat-sized hole directly in front of that fan. Each of the five holes (one in
front of each fan) led to a tunnel beneath the table, where the rat was
rewarded for choosing the correct fan. Cameras positioned above the table
recorded the rats' performance.
With five fans to choose from,
rats could perform at a 20 percent correct level just by chance. After the rats
had performed the task at a level of approximately 60 percent correct or higher
for 10 days in a row, the researchers cut off the whiskers (a procedure as
painless as a haircut) and looked for changes in behavior. Two additional study
authors, Chris Bresee and Yan Man, contributed to running the experiment and
analyzing the data. Ultimately, the team's results showed that whisker removal
decreased rats' performance by approximately 20 percent.
To explain these results, the
researchers noted that the rats were permitted to use any sensory cues they
wanted to locate the fan.
"We didn't require the rats
to use their whiskers for this task," said Yu.
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