Old modern ear from the expected

2007/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Eboluzioa

In the fossils of reptiles 260 million years ago, paleontologists have discovered that they had anatomically modern ears. This discovery has annulled the existing conviction so far, since scientists considered that at the time of the creation of dinosaurs developed structures that allowed to hear well, that is, modern ears, which was about 200 million years ago.

Before that, when vertebrates adapted to dry land and began to differentiate ancestors from current mammals, reptiles and birds, hearing was not of great importance. This is what is deduced from the fossils found so far. In fact, the first terrestrial animals were almost totally deaf. Now they have shown that those reptiles heard as well as the present lizards. Apparently, this was an advantage for them and helped them advance in evolution.