Mustache is not just the hair that grows above the mouth. Mustache was a milestone marking the evolution from reptiles to mammals.
Scientists from the University of Sheffield, England, discovered the function of these whiskers when comparing rats and mice with their distant relatives, animals marsupials, like kangaroos and koalas.
By using high-speed digital video recordings and automatic tracking, a research team led by Tony Prescott of the Department of Psychology at the university reveals how the rodent whisker move forward and backward at high speed and a variety of ways to sense the environment around. This behavior is referred to as whisking.
This makes rat sensory systems can accurately determine the position, shape, and texture of an object, make decisions quickly and accurately on the object, and use that information to build a map of the environment.
In their research, Prescott found the gray opossum short tail, small marsupials from South America, also using the strategy of whisking. The beast has many similarities with early mammals that lived more than 125 million years ago-along with the evolutionary branching between modern rodents and marsupials.
This evidence suggests that the first mammals may also move like a rat whiskers, and mustache seem to be driven is an important point in the evolution of mammals. Early mammals were nocturnal, active at night and live in trees. To make it easier to move and survive in a challenging environment, they need information terintregrasi and varied senses: sight, hearing, smell, and touch. Mustache is a new sense of touch is not available in reptiles.
"The research shows that the emergence of this new tactile adaiah important evolutionary step for modern mammals," said Prescott. *** [SCIENCEDAILY | UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD | KORAN TEMPO 3713]
Scientists from the University of Sheffield, England, discovered the function of these whiskers when comparing rats and mice with their distant relatives, animals marsupials, like kangaroos and koalas.
By using high-speed digital video recordings and automatic tracking, a research team led by Tony Prescott of the Department of Psychology at the university reveals how the rodent whisker move forward and backward at high speed and a variety of ways to sense the environment around. This behavior is referred to as whisking.
This makes rat sensory systems can accurately determine the position, shape, and texture of an object, make decisions quickly and accurately on the object, and use that information to build a map of the environment.
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| Monodelphis domestica or gray short-tailed opossum. (Picture from: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/) |
In their research, Prescott found the gray opossum short tail, small marsupials from South America, also using the strategy of whisking. The beast has many similarities with early mammals that lived more than 125 million years ago-along with the evolutionary branching between modern rodents and marsupials.
This evidence suggests that the first mammals may also move like a rat whiskers, and mustache seem to be driven is an important point in the evolution of mammals. Early mammals were nocturnal, active at night and live in trees. To make it easier to move and survive in a challenging environment, they need information terintregrasi and varied senses: sight, hearing, smell, and touch. Mustache is a new sense of touch is not available in reptiles.
"The research shows that the emergence of this new tactile adaiah important evolutionary step for modern mammals," said Prescott. *** [SCIENCEDAILY | UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD | KORAN TEMPO 3713]
