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Unlike eyes, which are generally instantly recognizable, ears differ greatly in their appearance throughout the animal kingdom. Some hearing structures may not be visible at all. For example, camouflaged in the barn owl’s facial ruff—a rim of short, brown feathers surrounding the bird’s white face—are clusters of stiff feathers that act as external ears on either side of its head. These feather structures funnel sound collected by two concave facial disks to the ear canal openings, increasing the bird’s hearing sensitivity by 20 decibels—approximately the difference between normal conversation and shouting. Similar increases in sensitivity result from the large and often mobile external structures, or pinnae, of many mammals, such as cats and bats. Internally, the differences among hearing organs are even more dramatic.
Although ...
