Duncan Leitch

Duncan Bernardo Leitch is a neurobiologist working at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1984.

He has published many articles on Star-nosed moles, naked mole-rats, and other insectivores.

In 2012, Kenneth C. Catania and Leitch published a study on the somatosensory sensation of crocodilians, including American alligators and Nile crocodiles in the Journal of Experimental Biology. This garnered public attention in the journals Nature, Science, National Geographic, and international news media. In this work, he and Catania describe the physiological response properties of neurons in the trigeminal ganglion, showing that the sense of touch in crocodilians surpasses those of human fingertips, despite being a thickly-scaled surface.

References

• Leitch, Duncan B. and K. Catania (2012-10-13). "Structure, innervation and response properties of integumentary sensory organs in crocodilians.". Retrieved 2012-10-13. 
• Shannon Fischer (8 November 2012). "Croc Jaws More Sensitive Than Human Fingertips". National Geographic Society. Retrieved 7 February 2013. 

External links

• Croc Jaws More Sensitive Than Human Fingertips
• Zoology: Thick-skinned but sensitive. Nature 491, 304 (15 November 2012)
• Crocs have super-sensitive jaws
• Crocodile Skin Confers Delicate Touch Sense