Citation

Wahlberg, Magnus (2019). The Cormorant Ear – Adapted to Underwater Hearing?.

Abstract

Diving birds may spend several minutes underwater during foraging dives. However, surprisingly little is known about avian underwater hearing. We do not know their sensitivity or even if they respond to underwater sound. To help filling this gap we measured the audiograms of cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis) and studied their ear anatomy. Wild-caught fledglings were anesthetized and their auditory brainstem response (ABR) to clicks and tone bursts was measured, first in an anechoic box in air and then in a large water-filled tank with their head and neck submerged 10 cm below the surface. The overall shape of their air-audiograms was like that reported for birds of the same size in air. The bandwidth and slopes of their audiograms were similar in air and water. However, in air the highest sensitivity was found at 2 kHz, whereas it was displaced towards lower frequencies underwater. These results suggest that cormorants have rather poor in-air hearing compared to similar-sized birds. Their underwater hearing sensitivity, however, is higher than what would have been expected for purely air-adapted ears. A possible reason for the poor in-air sensitivity is the special ear anatomy with the central eardrum shaped as a rigid piston like in turtles.

Taxa