In a paper published in Science, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, the Humboldt University of Berlin, and the University of Stuttgart have discovered that the secret to the elephant’s amazing sense of touch is in its unusual whiskers. The interdisciplinary team analyzed elephant trunk whiskers using advanced microscopy methods that revealed a form of material intelligence more sophisticated than the well-studied whiskers of rats and mice. This research has the potential to inspire new physically intelligent robotic sensing approaches that resemble the unusual whiskers that cover the elephant trunk.
Publication: Schulz, A.K., Kaufmann, L.V., Smith, L.T., Philip, D.S., David, H., Zinnanti, J., Brecht, M., Richter, G., Kuchenbecker, K.J., 2026, Functional gradients facilitate tactile sensing in elephant whiskers, Science
Find out more:
is.mpg.de/news/elephant-whiskers
Simulation repository:
github.com/LawSmith408/WhiskerAnalyses
Read the paper:
science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adx8981