Measured vibration velocity values pooled across subjects for each species group.

Overall range, mean, and SE of the measured peak velocity from laser vibrometer recordings for all vibrissae sampled. Samples that had dropped values at the 90° orientation due to poor laser vibrometer signal were removed from the data set. The resulting sample size was n = 9 at 0°, n = 9 at 45°, and n = 8 at 90° for California sea lions; n = 8 at 0°, n = 8 at 45°, and n = 8 at 90° for elephant seals; and n = 9 at 0°, n = 9 at 45°, and n = 6 at 90° for harbor seals.