250-million-year-old mammal ancestor could hear sounds long before modern mammals evolved

250-million-year-old mammal ancestor could hear sounds long before modern mammals evolved

You are looking at one of the most important sensory shifts in mammal history: the rise of sensitive hearing. Modern mammals rely on a middle ear with an eardrum and tiny bones that detect faint airborne sounds. This ability gave early mammals a major advantage, especially at night, when dinosaurs dominated daylight hours. New research from paleontologists at the University of Chicago suggests this kind of hearing began far earlier than scientis…