The organs that will be most useful to giant African rats in finding their way in underground habitats are the?

A. vibrissae
B. nostrils
C. eyes
D. tails

Correct Answer:

Option A – vibrissae

Explanation:

Vibrissae or tactile hairs are an important part of the tactile sensory apparatus of many mammals. A wide range of suggested functions found in the literature includes food acquisition prey attack, aggression and attack behavior, facial expression in intraspecies communications, dispersion of pheromones, maintaining head position in swimming, and a wide range of environmental monitoring (e. g., current detection in water, wind direction on land).

The vibrissae of rats have a rhythmic motor activity that is used for the tactile localization of objects; this motor activity is under active muscular control. In rats, the mystacial vibrissae make an average of eight sweeps per second.