No Ears, No Problem: Frogs Can Hear With Their Lungs

Frogs, like the coqui frogs in Hawaii, have unique hearing adaptations. They lack external ears but use tympanic membranes on their heads to detect sound vibrations. These vibrations are processed in the inner ear, allowing frogs to determine sound pitch and location. However, small tympanic membranes struggle with low-frequency sounds. Frogs compensate by using their lungs, which vibrate like eardrums, to detect these sounds. This lung-assisted hearing may reflect how early amphibians heard before tympanic membranes evolved.

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