Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community
Year

2012

Darwinians concoct a whale of a tale about the evolution of the ear

Yesterday, I came across a fascinating article on hearing in whales and dolphins that blew my mind away, entitled, A New Acoustic Portal into the Odontocete Ear and Vibrational Analysis of the Tympanoperiotic Complex by T.W. Cranford, P. Krysl and M. Amundin (PLoS ONE 5(8): e11927, 2010, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011927). Odontocetes, for those who may be wondering, are commonly known as toothed whales – a category that includes porpoises and dolphins. And the tympanoperiotic complex is the so-called “ear-bone” of whales, porpoises and dolphins (see here for a more technical definition). The article revealed that hearing in whales and dolphins is a staggeringly complex process, which scientists are still struggling to understand. There is an old Chinese proverb that a picture is Read More ›