Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 2, 2026
07:40
Dissection of the Auditory Bulla in Postnatal Mice: Isolation of the Middle Ear Bones and Histological Analysis
Published on: January 4, 2017
Vestigial hearing in a fossorial mammal, the pocket gopher (Geomys bursarius)
1Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Ohio 43606.
Hearing Research
|July 1, 1990
Abstract:
Behavioral tests of hearing and sound localization in the North American pocket gopher (Geomys bursarius) show that it is unique among mammals. It has a severely attenuated range of hearing and only rudimentary ability to localize sound. In these respects, the hearing of gophers can be properly termed 'vestigial' and suggests that life underground can produce as severe a change in hearing as a light-less world produces in vision or an odorless world produces in olfaction.
Related Concept Videos
01:11The Auditory Ossicles
The auditory ossicles of the middle ear transmit sounds from the air as vibrations to the fluid-filled cochlea. The auditory ossicles consist of two malleus (hammer) bones, two incus (anvil) bones, and two stapes (stirrups), one on each side. These bones develop during the fetal stage and are the ones to ossify first. They are fully mature at birth and do not grow afterward.
The aptly named stapes look very much like a stirrup. The three ossicles are unique to mammals, and each plays a role in...
The aptly named stapes look very much like a stirrup. The three ossicles are unique to mammals, and each plays a role in...
01:16Anatomy of the Ear
Auditory sensation, commonly called hearing, involves the transformation of sonic waves into neural impulses facilitated by the structures of the auditory organ. The prominent, flesh-like structure on the side of the head, called the auricle, directs sound waves towards the auditory canal. The auricle is often mislabeled as the pinna, a term more aligned with mobile structures like a feline's external ear. The auditory canal penetrates the cranium via the external auditory meatus of the...