Transcript

Ears are an identifying feature of many animals.

The human ear is shaped to capture as much sound as possible.

ear

Owl ears are even better at capturing sound.

owl ear

Their ears are so sensitive that they can even hear their prey running in tunnels under a thick layer of snow!

African elephants have the biggest ears.

But the fennec fox has one of the largest pairs of ears for its size.

fennec fox

If ears are so important why don't some animals seem to have them?

Do all animals have ears?

For years it was believed snakes couldn't hear because they didn't have visible ears.

It was then discovered that snakes don't need outer ears because although they can't hear sound, they can feel it.

Sound vibrations are felt by a snake's jawbone.

jawbone

They pass through the jawbone to a hidden inner ear.

This transmits them to the brain, which makes sense of the vibrations, enabling the snake to respond.

Many insects feel sound too.

Caterpillars feel sound vibrations with the hairs on their bodies.

hairs

Ants detect sound with a pair of antennae on their head.

antennae

And grasshoppers have special features on their abdomens, a pair of tympanal organs that pick up sound vibrations.

tympanal organs

So while many animals have ears, even those that don't, have other features that allow them to detect sound.

Animals use ears and other sensory organs to detect sound.

Video info

Related videos

What every animal needs

Star-nosed mole