Hearing in the Animal World

June 3, 2009 | By admin |

You have a right to be impressed with the wonder of human hearing. But what about that of other creatures? Well, people can see the external ears of dogs, cats, horses and monkeys, and they know that such animals respond to sounds. Also, though birds lack external ears, most persons are well aware that these creatures can hear. As a matter of fact, a bird’s auditory range is about the same as man’s. What about snakes? Can they hear?

Some naturalists contend that snakes cannot hear. Actually, however, recent findings show that these animals have an auditory mechanism and can hear fairly well. For instance, researchers Peter H. Hartline and Howard W. Campbell found that not only substrate vibrations but also airborne sounds evoked electrical responses in species of three snake families. Concerning a boa constrictor, they wrote: “If a brain response is accepted as indicative of hearing, these snakes can hear airborne sound.”—Science, March 14, 1969, Vol. 163, No. 3872, page 1222.

The Bible implies that the cobra can “listen to the voice of charmers.” (Ps. 58:4, 5) In this regard, the New York Times of January 10, 1954, stated: “Dr. David I. Macht, research pharmacologist of the Mount Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, is one of the world’s leading authorities on cobra snake venom. . . . Dr. Macht reported that in working with cobras and cobra venom he became acquainted with a number of Hindu physicians, well educated, and from different parts of India. All agreed that cobras respond to some musical tones, from musical pipes or fifes. Some forms of music excite the animals more than other forms, the physicians reported. Indian children, playing in the dark in the countryside, are even warned not to sing lest their sounds attract cobras, he said. Dr. Macht commented that Shakespeare, who repeatedly referred to serpents as deaf . . . merely repeated a common misunderstanding. On the other hand, Dr. Macht said, the psalmist was right who implied conversely, in Psalm 58, Verse 5, that serpents can hear: . . . Contrary to the claims of some naturalists, Dr. Macht said, snakes are ‘charmed’ by sounds, not by movements of the charmer. Revise the textbooks, the physicians recommended.”