A tiny frog from the Seychelles islands have no middle ear or eardrum, yet are able to capture sound with their mouth cavity and relay the sound to their inner ear in order to hear.
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Gardiner’s frogs are technically deaf, but they have found a way to adapt and allow sound waves to find their way to the inner ear via connective tissue through an open mouth.
As reported by LiveScience:
By studying X-ray images and numerical simulations, the researchers discovered that Gardiner’s frogs receive sound through their heads. The mouth amplifies the frequencies and the sound is transmitted through tissue and bones in the skull to the inner ear.
Source
- Weird! Tiny frog uses its mouth to hear (Denise Chow, LiveScience/NBC News: September 3, 2013)
