page_title: Whiskers
section_title: In non-mammalian animals
hierarchical_section_title: Whiskers / In non-mammalian animals
caption_attribution_description: English: Whiskered Auklet (Aethia pygmaea)
context_page_description: Whiskers or vibrissae are a type of mammalian hair that are typically characterised, anatomically, by their long length, large and well-innervated hair follicle, and by having an identifiable representation in the somatosensory cortex of the brain.
  They are specialised for tactile sensing. Vibrissae grow in various places on most mammals, including all primates except humans. Vibrissae are analogous to antennae found on insects and other arthropods.
  In medicine, the term vibrissae also refers to the thick hairs found inside human nostrils.
context_section_description: A range of non-mammalian animals possess structures which resemble or function similarly to mammalian whiskers.
caption: "Whiskers" on a whiskered auklet
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