Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
Seems it would have enhanced their hearing and hence their survival to have such big ears. Why did it only show up with mammals?
Seems it would have enhanced their hearing and hence their survival to have such big ears. Why did it only show up with mammals?
They seemed to survive just fine without them, so from an evolutionary viewpoint it is not clear what advantage external ears may have given them? They could survive without them well enough....Seems it would have enhanced their hearing and hence their survival to have such big ears. Why did it only show up with mammals?
They seemed to survive just fine without them, so from an evolutionary viewpoint it is not clear what advantage external ears may have given them? They could survive without them well enough....
As to why mammals evolved them... Possibly they were beneficial when mammals were mostly small, and preyed upon, in that they may provide better locational information, to be able to avoid prey etc.
just a guess, though.
Enhanced directional hearing wouldn't have been an advantage for dinosaur predators and prey? That's ridiculous. Ofcourse it would. The history of outer ear evolution in mammals completely refutes that.
Animals with small heads also need to detect sounds at higher frequencies for only then will the acoustic shadow of the head produce a detectable interaural difference in sound intensity
Enhanced directional hearing wouldn't have been an advantage for dinosaur predators and prey? That's ridiculous. Ofcourse it would. The history of outer ear evolution in mammals completely refutes that.
Whatever method of hearing the dinosaurs had was sufficient, and they evolved hearing that was sufficient... that was fit for purpose.Enhanced directional hearing wouldn't have been an advantage for dinosaur predators and prey? That's ridiculous. Ofcourse it would. The history of outer ear evolution in mammals completely refutes that.
Some dinosaurs probably had serious heat shedding problems, and many of the odd features of their skeletons have been explained as heat shedding features.Second, for many mammals, especially the big ones, it is a heat shedding mechanism rather that just an auditory enhancer. Dinosaurs didn't have that need.