Enjoy, if you will, Masanori Maeda’s masterful “Über den Nasenhaarbalg bei einigen Säugetieren” [Nasal Hair Follicles in Several Mammals]. It was published in Okajimas Folia Anatomica Japonica, vol. 25, nos. 5-6, 1954, pp. 235-238. Here’s a bit of detail:
Pinnipeds (for example seals) tend to have vibrissae (i.e. whiskers) of varying flexurality (stiffness), arranged in a mystacial (moustache-like) format. Warranting an experimental investigation: “This is the first comparative study on the mechanical properties of pinniped mystacial vibrissae.” – explain a team of researchers from Texas A&M university and West Chester University, US. The investigators […]