| Dr Robyn Grant, a Senior Lecturer, from Manchester Metropolitan University is a leading authority on the science of whiskers: "Whiskers are used for an animal's sense of touch, much like our fingertips. And, like our fingertips, animals move and position their whiskers to better explore objects and surfaces" Robyn is trying to understand how different animals move and position their whisker, so they can get the most from exploring. "We see that nocturnal climbing animals have the most whisker movements, they move them backwards and forwards in a process called whisking, that can be up to 25 times per second in harvest mice, it is one of the fastest movements that mammals can make!" Supported by the keeping and conservation staff at the Wildwood Trust, Robyn has been filming many animals, including brown rats, harvest mice, wood mice, house mice, dormice, water shrew, water vole, hedgehog, weasel, otter, stoat and fox. "The foxes can actually move their whiskers; even though they tend to keep their whiskers out the way so that they can put their nose close and smell the object, every now and then they move them" Trying to understand more about animal behaviour and sensing is key to understanding how animals explore and move around their habitats. A recent study that Robyn did (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00359-017-1146-z), in collaboration with Wildwood, showed that dormice used their whiskers to guide safe footfalls in their dark. Dormice are very shy animals that move around the canopy at night. Robyn found that when dormice reached a gap that they could not reach over with their whiskers, they paced and reduced feeding. This indicates that even very small gaps in the canopy can have an impact on dormouse behaviour. Robyn added: "Gaining access to these species through the Wildwood Trust has been a rare and invaluable insight into the behaviour of many British mammals, and has implications for the way in which British woodlands and hedgerows are managed. Joining up habitats with structures such as hedgerows will allow many animals to find food and shelter in the dark, using their finely-tuned sense of touch" This work is part of a larger project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Robyn and her collaborators at London South Bank University and UCL, are trying to understand how whisker shape, movement and positioning affects the mechanics of sensing as part of their MMEAW grant (Modelling the Mechanics of Animal Whiskers). Wildwood’s Peter Smith said: “We are enormously grateful to Robyn and her team; the hidden world of whiskers is fascinating, and we are very proud of the growing role Wildwood plays in such ground-breaking scientific research. Many of our visitors so rarely get to see the amazing work of our conservation and keeper teams and the tremendous value an understanding of animals has for humanity’s future.” For more information contact: Interviews with Dr Robin Grant are avaialble on request over the next week as she continues to work at Wildwood contact: Peter Smith: peter@wildwoodtrust.org 07986 828229 Video: An interview with Dr Robyn Grant and the results of her work at Wildwood can be seen here: https://youtu.be/uC3Hu3xE92M more video is avialble on request | 
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