Search: do owls have ears
Why: Maddie kind of looks like an owl, but birds don't have external ears... or do they?
Answer: Not really! Those ear tufts are just feathers meant to INTIMIDATE you. Is it working? Sometimes they also use them to communicate, and they use them for camouflage:
The shape of the actual ear opening depends on the owl species. Some species - particularly nocturnal ones - have asymmetrical ears (one higher than the other). These have a very pronounced "facial disc" (ctm) that acts like a radar dish to guide sounds into the ear. When an owl hears a noise, it can immediately tell the direction from which it came based one which ear hears it first. It then turns its head so the sound hits both ear simultaneously. This way, the owl knows its prey is right in front of it. Owls can detect a left/right time difference of about 0.00003 seconds (30 millionths of a second!)
The ear of the adorable ural owl looks like this:
Source: Owl Pages, Backyard Nature
The More You Know: Other bird ears are in a weird place:
Most have little bitty feathers covering the opening to cut down on the noise from wind. Penguin ears are covered with strong feather to protect them from water pressure when they dive.
I read another really interesting article on how birds do (and don't) use their external ears on Exploring the Bio-edge. I find it fascinating that the feathery external pinna of owls, for example, don't actually help them to hear!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.explorebioedge.com/bio-edge-blog/item/32-why-does-no-bird-cock-an-ear.html