And it does suit the needs of our upright-standing tribe. So two cheers for evolution - but where is the process heading, assuming we’re around long enough for it to head anywhere? (Will the purpose of earlobes finally be revealed?)
That would not be human ears, that would be bat’s ears. Gorgeous, they are.
Of course you’re right. “As best as possible” doesn’t describe the human ear. I as an electrical engineer should have known better.
About the dragon-snake lady, she seems like a nice grandmotherly type, if only my own granny had been as satisfied with herself. I wouldn’t have removed the ears though. Maybe have them sculpted into dragon ears - don’t some dragons have ears (in art, of course)?
I thought Mundane Pointless was a bad name for a forum that sometimes covered serious news events, and once suggested a change; a few people agreed but nothing happened and it never will, so here it stays.
Human ears are for whatever reason set up so we won’t pay much attention to them. Many species have ears that can swivel around and can express not only the direction of attention (or more than one direction, I’ve often seen a cat with one ear swiveled one way and the other aimed elsewhere) but also a great deal about the mood of the one whose ears they are (attentive? relaxed? laid back in fear or anger?) Human ears can’t do any of that.
I expect that cats, dogs, horses etc. pay attention to the positions of each other’s ears. I don’t see any particular reason why humans should pay attention to other humans’ ears. And I don’t think most people do.
You might want to be careful how “diligent” you are about swabbing out your ears. My doctor told me if you’re not careful, you can really hurt your ear doing that.
A pigs ear isn’t it?
Edit. No it isn’t.
To the OP, aside from unusual ears (very large, very small, sticking out, half missing etc.) I pay as much attention to them as I pay to someone’s little finger.
Yes, so I’m told. It’s too late for me - save yourselves!
Nowadays I do more tweezing than swabbing.
My ears have quit working. I consider my ears to be useful as a place to hold my eyeglasses.
As far as ear aesthetics, I fell in love with Mr Spock (1968) at my first glance of his incredible pointed ears.
~VOW
The top from a Pilot BP-S pen is the best thing ever for scratching down inside those fuckers!
It has recently occurred to me that my ears have to work very hard. Besides just hearing, I mean. When I go out into the world, I’m wearing my glasses, which sit on my ears. And my hearing aids, which also sit on top of and behind (and inside) my ears. Then there’s my mask, with an elastic that loops over each ear. And finally, I always wear earrings (pierced). Whew!
I find them, in addition to my nose, very useful for keeping sunglasses on my head.
Very true. An example of reimagining function from a given form. Imagine we had no ears, how would glasses be held in place? It is not a trivial problem. Something that pinches the nose might work but would be uncomfortable. But we do have convenient ears, so the current gravity-dependent solution works well, though I imagine the first person to wear them got stared at.
Probably by a strap behind the head; which is how I hold face masks on.
Strap keeps slipping down, or is so tight it’s fatiguing. The face mask I’m wearing has elastics going around the ears, you should try it.
I bet the snake-dragon lady wishes she’d thought of that.
I’ve tried it both ways. I find the strap behind the head a lot more comfortable.
People vary.
Bats’ ears are designed for echo-location, at which they excel. But note, OTOH, that dolphins are also masters of echo-location and they have no externally visible ears at all!
I should hope so. It sounds like your phobia (It’s called Kypselidaphobia.) hurt your quality of life as a kid. You probably missed out on some good friendships (and maybe hurt some feelings) due to those irrational heebie-jeebies. The image of a poor little kid trying to sleep with ears folded over because of the fear a tiny bit of ear wax would fall out onto his pillow is sad. And your childhood Q-Tip habit was probably cramming the wax farther into your ear canal, trapping dust and skin cells.
I’ve never thought ears were, in and of themselves, weird or gross. I mean, all our features are weird if you regard them objectively. Are the eyes beautiful windows of the soul or (by and large) globes of connective tissue moistened by secretions of the lacrymal glands and containing vitreous jelly?