All ears
A HORSE has 10 muscles to control ear position and movement, enabling more manoeuvrability than in any other domesticated animal. Each ear is independently mobile and so they can be moved in different directions at the same time.
These adaptations, combined with highly sensitive hearing, allow what was originally a prey animal to be extremely responsive to approaches by other animals that signal threat – and to locate these threats very precisely.
The external ear, termed the pinna, comprises a funnel-shaped vertical tube (the vertical canal), made of cartilage with overlying skin. This is joined at the base via a right-angled bend to a short, horizontal tube, which in turn connects to the eardrum.
A thin
