Specialization for underwater hearing by the tympanic middle ear of the turtle
A group of biologists from Denmark and the US led by Jakob Christensen-Dalsgaard, University of Southern Denmark, and Catherine Carr, University of Maryland, have shown that the turtle ear is specialized for underwater hearing. The new discovery is published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B March 21st , Special features of the turtle ear – a large, air-filled middle ear and a movable tympanic disk increase its sensitivity for underwater sound. Laser measurements of disk vibrations in response to underwater sound show up to 100-fold larger vibrations of the disk than ...






