They have some of the most sensitive sensory organs on the planet, so it would be natural to wonder what it would be like to experience the world through a sea lion's whiskers.

Now new research has mapped the brain of sea lions for the first time to reveal the animals' sense of touch through their whiskers may be comparable to our own fingers.

The researchers found that each whisker on the sea lion's nose has a specific corresponding area in the brain stem that is devoted to decoding the signals that come from it.

Biologists have mapped the brain of sea lions and found that they have dedicated areas for each whisker much like humans do for individual fingers. Sea lion's whiskers (pictured) are some of the most sensitive touch sensors in the world

These are comparable to the specific areas in the human brain that correspond to individual fingers, which helps us to detect even minute changes in texture through our hands.

But sea lions also have specific brains areas devoted to processing touch sensations from their flippers and tail.

POWER OF A SEA LION'S WHISKERS California sea lions have 38 whiskers on each side of their face, which can grow up to eight inches in length. They are extremely sensitive and posess more nerve fibres per bristle than any other in the animal kingdom. The animals use them to look for changes in water flow, allowing them to track fish swimming up to 590ft (180 metres) away. They can also discriminate between shapes and sizes down to a fraction of a centimetre. Advertisement

Most surprisingly was the discovery that they have a well-developed brain region called Bischoff's nucleus, which is found in animals will prominent tails, like raccoons, kangaroos and whales.

Sea lions, however, have very small tails which are tucked behind their hind flippers.

Writing in the Journal of Comparative Neurology, the researchers said: 'To our knowledge this work is the first comprehensive report on the central nervous system areas for any sensor system in a pinniped.'

The researchers said sea lions are one of the few mammals that have evolved large brains that weigh more than 1.5lbs (680g), alongside humans, elephants, whales and dolphins.

However, little is known about the pinniped's cerebral skills.

Humans, elephants, cetaceans and pinnipeds all evolved large brains independently, so the way their brains are organised is often quite different.

Sea lions are one of just a handful of mammals that have large brains that weigh over 1.5lbs (680g). Their brains (pictured) have a large number of folds much like the brains of whales and dolphins

The researchers (pictured) hope to compare the brains of sea lions to those of primates when they have finished mapping all the regions and what they are used for

Professor Jon Kass, who led the work at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, said sea lions had brains that were the same size as chimpanzees.

However their brains are intensely folded in a similar fashion to whales and dolphins.

Professor Kass said: 'We know a lot about how some brains are organized and function, mice and primate brains for example, but mammals are highly varied, and we know almost nothing about the brains of most mammals, including pinnipeds.'

Following a series of strandings of juvenile California sea lions through out southern and central California, researchers were able to study the brains of two of the animals.

Eva Sawyer, a neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University, said: 'It was amazing to see the sea lion brain for the first time because, after spending years studying brains, it was shocking to see something so large and so different from any other brain I had ever worked with.'

'It is striking that both cetaceans and pinnipeds tend to have large and convoluted brains, but there is no single accepted explanation for this observation.

California sea lions (pictured) have some of the most sensitive whiskers in the animal kingdom, allowing them to detect changes in water pressure up to 590ft (180 metres) away

'It is at least partially explained by their large body size. Animals with larger bodies are expected to have larger brains.

'But it may also be related to other factors, such as the weightlessness of the marine environment or coping with cold water temperatures. Or it could just be a random outcome of evolution.