Yes, birds do have ears!
In fact, most birds have an excellent sense of hearing and can hear a much wider range of sounds than humans. However, they have no outer ear structure like an ear lobe or external pinnae and in most species the entrance to the ear is covered in a circle of soft loose-webbed feathers which overlap the ear known as the auricular or ear coverts.
You are viewing: Where Are Birds Ears
What is the structure of the avian ear?
Birds have ears that are very similar to lizards. They are usually located just behind and slightly below the eye and each earhole can be as big as the eye. The ear coverts help protect the ear from the noise of the wind as the bird flies and keep out dust and water, but because they have no barbs, they don’t obstruct any sound entering the ear.
Read more : Where Is Siljan Lake
Just like humans, birds have three parts to their ears; the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear.
The outer ear channels air onto the eardrum, or tympanic membrane, and consists of a short passage, called the meatus. Most birds have a muscle in the skin around the meatus that can partially or completely close the opening.
The middle ear sends the vibrations from the eardrum via an ossicular chain to the columella bone and the cochlea in the inner ear where they are carried by nerve receptors to the brain and interpreted as sound.
Read more : Where To Watch Arsenal W.f.c. Vs West Ham United Women
The cochlea of birds is like that found in crocodiles. It is a short, slightly curved bony tube measuring between 2.5 and 4.5 mm in most birds but up to 10 mm in owls.
How well can birds hear?
Despite not having a complex ear structure birds have well-developed hearing and it is the second most important sense after vision. They need good hearing to be able communicate with each other with songs and calls, and many species also rely on sound for hunting prey, and warnings of danger.
Some birds, such as flamingos and penguins, have such acute hearing that they are able to identify members of their family from their calls, even when they are among thousands of other individuals in a noisy flock.
Birds have a full hearing range from about 100 Hz to 14 kHz, which is slightly narrower than humans who can hear as low as 20 Hz and as high as 20 kHz depending on age, but it is most sensitive from 1 kHz to 4 KHz.
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHERE
