The species diversity of animals living on Earth is amazing. Some of them have incredible strength, others develop tremendous speeds, and still others are considered record holders in terms of … ears! From our article you will learn what the most eared animals can be found on the planet. So, let's begin.
African elephant
Many people believe that the largest "locators" belong to representatives of this species of mammals. However, this opinion is only partially correct. The fact is that the ears of an elephant are really the largest, if you look at their dimensions and do not correlate with other indicators. But the ratio of the size of the ears and the length and width of the body of an elephant is not the greatest.
The huge size of the hearing organs (up to 1.5 m in length) is due to several reasons. For example, they serve as a fan, as elephants live in hot areas with an arid climate. Swinging ears, they more easily tolerate heat.
Jerboa
A jerboa is considered a real champion. The body length of this tiny rodent is 9 cm, and the ears grow to 5 cm. This means that the length of the organs is more than half the body of the jerboa. Impressive, right?
The animal lives in desert regions and leads a nocturnal lifestyle. It feeds on insects and is distinguished by dexterity. He has long ears for several reasons. Firstly, they protect the animal from overheating in hot deserts. Secondly, thanks to them, jerboas hear well and quickly respond to any movements. This helps them in the hunt.
Representatives of this species are listed in the Red Book. They are considered poorly understood. They are found in the Gobi desert, namely in Mongolia and China. The difficulty in studying this species is that all individuals live in inaccessible tunnels deep underground. They rise to the surface only at night.
Eared hedgehog
These animals live in many regions, including the Middle East, China, North Africa, the Caucasus and India. You can meet them in Russia. Representatives of this species differ from the usual hedgehog in the length of their ears: they reach dimensions of up to 5 cm, despite the fact that the whole body can be measured with a ruler designed for 15-25 cm.
Needles are only in the back, so the hedgehogs seem bald. On the chest and abdomen is light gray, sometimes white fur. The muzzle may be light brown or grayish black. The color of the needles is determined by the habitat of the animal and can vary from light to very dark. The ears are mobile, they are slightly bent back, which makes the hedgehogs lop-eared. However, the size of the auditory organs reaches large sizes for a reason: with the help of ears, the animals regulate body temperature.
Serval
This graceful predator is a feline record holder. He has the largest ear among all the congeners! Servals are slender long-legged cats that are medium in size. They are found in Africa, with the exception of desert areas. However, now daredevils contain servals at home.
The animal is skillfully hunting. During the search for prey, the servals freeze and listen. They can spend in one position for 15 minutes. They jump very high.
Rabbits
The ears of a hare are no doubt very long. But today we’ll talk about rabbits. Breeders have done tremendous work on breeding a new breed of rabbit. She received the name "Brussels ram." She appeared recently. The unusual naming is due to the external features of the rabbits: their ears are twisted so much that they resemble the horns of rams. If you deploy the hearing organs, then they can reach a length of several meters. It is still unknown what caused this feature. Currently, rabbits of this breed are increasingly being chosen as pets.
Fenech
Surely you read a fairy tale about the Little Prince. If so, then you remember that the main character's companion was the Fox. According to one version, the prototype of this character was the manual Fenech Antoine de Saint-Exupery. These animals look very remarkable: they have light hair, long mustaches and large ears. With their help, they hunt at night when they leave their minks on the surface of deserts.
Fenech is the smallest fox, whose weight is not more than 2 kg. It is inferior in size to domestic cats. The animal is considered the record holder for the length of the ears among predators. After all, hearing organs grow up to 15 cm in each individual. These cute animals live in Africa, but recently there have been more frequent cases of poaching. In this regard, this species of foxes was listed in the Red Book.
Ushan
The description of a bat of this species could not be represented in our material, because all of the above animals simply fade next to the ears. The fact is that the ears of funny bats have the same length as their body, i.e. about 5 cm. The name is fully consistent with the appearance of the animals. When the earflaps are sleeping, the hearing organs are covered with wings. The largest ear among animals helps bats navigate in the dark. The body works as a radar.
Basset hound
This breed of dog boasts the largest hearing organs among its relatives. She was bred by breeders to hunt hares. In fact, the pride of the basset hounds is not the ears, but the nose, because it is able to distinguish smells over great distances.
Thick-tailed galago
Who else has the biggest ear? Have a thick-tailed galago. This is a representative of the primacy squad. He has a very bright appearance. The length of his body is 30 cm, the tail is 10 cm larger than the body. The length of the auricles reaches 6 cm. Together with a miniature muzzle and saucer eyes, rather large ears create a touching picture. An interesting fact is that the organs of hearing in the galago act like radars. They can be deployed in different directions or curled up into a tube. All this helps the animal to quickly respond to movement around it.
Caracal
Until recently, these animals were assigned to lynxes, which they look like in appearance. But, having studied the genetic features, scientists came to the conclusion that they should be distinguished in a separate genus. Caracals are close to the African serials, which we have already talked about, and cross well with them in captivity. Representatives of this genus were tamed in ancient Egypt and used for hunting.
Ears are a prominent feature of these cats. But compared to other cats, the caracal cannot boast that it has the largest ear. Bunches of black fur, which are so long that they almost double the dimensions of the hearing organs, make them unique.
