Data for: Functional gradients facilitate tactile sensing in elephant whiskers

This dataset contains raw data, post-processed data, and modeling frameworks for “Functional gradients facilitate tactile sensing in elephant whiskers”, published in Science in February of 2026. The dataset is subdivided into several folders, including MicroCT, SEM, picoindentation, FEA, microscopy, and Lithographs. The microCT contains three raw microCT scans: 1) Adult Asian elephant distal whisker, 2) Adult Asian elephant proximal whisker, 3) Adult Bighorn sheep horn distal section. These files include the scanning area and the individual .tiff files from the scan. Information for the scan is included in the metadata file. Additionally, we have a folder that contains the rendered visual files to create the microCT supplemental movies. The SEM folder contains several sub-folders of different raw and annotated (with scale bar) images of whiskers from adult Asian elephants, baby Asian elephants, adult cat whiskers, adult rat whiskers, and adult Asian elephant body hair. All settings for the SEM can be found in the annotated files. The PicoIndenter folder contains the raw data files extracted from the PicoIndenter for each raw indentation trial for the whiskers. The Lithograph folder has .stl files of selected SEM from the main text figures for tactile exploration. The finite element methods are included as a zip file for WhiskerAnalyses-GitHub, which contains information about the GitHub repository attached, serving as a guide to recreate these simulations. L.V.K. and L.T.S. contributed equally.