Taken from ‘What Dogs Want’ by Mat Ward and Rupert Fawcett (Bloomsbury, 2021)
There’s nothing better than stroking the velvety ear of a dog while they snuggle into you, but those ears aren’t just there for fun. They are serious pieces of equipment.
A dog’s hearing is top notch, beating humans hands down in most respects. It is estimated to be four times as sensitive as ours – if you can hear the noise of a pin dropping on a wooden floor, your dog can hear it on a carpet…
Dogs are also able to hear sounds at much higher frequencies than we can – they can hear frequencies of 45kHz compared to our 20kHz max. Going ultrasonic is no problem at all for your average dog!
Furry satellite dishes: Dogs excel at identifying exactly where noises are coming from. Their independently moving outer-ears (pinnae) are able to rotate like a radar to locate the source of a sound.
Designer ears: Over the centuries, as humans bred dogs for different purposes, the erect ear that is typical of the dog’s ancestors evolved into many new shapes and sizes.
Deaf dogs: As dogs age, their hearing often gets worse. But dogs with certain colourings (such as white, piebald and merle) are more likely to be deaf from birth. This is because the genes that influence coat colour are also responsible for important parts of a dog’s inner ear.
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