It has been a myth that rabbits had 3 ears. I wonder whether you have heard about it since you’re a little kid.
Weird?
Nope. There’s a biological reason for having a third ear.
Long long time ago, rabbits had been a favourite prey amongst most predators because it’s small. The rabbits were always terrified and relied heavily on their longs ears and swift moves to run away from predators. They had 3 ears during that time as it helped them to be notified on most of the noises in all directions.
However it had a flaw.
As the middle ear is facing forward, it trapped a huge amount of wind while the rabbit was running away from its prey. This prevented the rabbit from running even faster due to wind resistance. Also, loud flappy noises was produced when the wind hits the middle ear. How shall I explain this? It’s like having your dog’s head out of the car’s window. You do hear the flappy noise right? It was pretty loud and the predator could almost always be able to hunt the rabbits location down.
It was due to several thousands of years of natural selection that those rabbits with shorter middle ears survive longer. Over time, that middle ear becomes obsolete just like your wisdom tooth. It slowly diminished in size and one day, it disappeared totally. Go look at your rabbits and see whether you could feel a special bone in between both ears.
If you have believed our story, please leave us a comment 😉
Ja ne~
P.S: Rabbits never once had 3 ears. Happy April Fools’ Day!
