Mary Bates, PhD

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Sea Lions' Whiskers are Sensitive, Dynamic

Photo: Mr.CMBurns, via Wikimedia Commons. Distributed under a CC-BY-3.0 license.You know the classic circus trick of a sea lion balancing a ball on its nose? It turns out whiskers are the key to making it work.Researchers filmed sea lions to investigate whether they use whisker control to coordinate ball balancing. See what they found in my latest Zoologic post: Sensitive Sea Lion Whiskers Get the Job Done.