Lizards that listen through the lungs

2002/03/05 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Zoologia

Some species of lizard and cast iron ring through the lungs. This is what Professor Thomas Hetherington of Ohio State University says. Many amphibians only have inner ear as an auditory organ and have been known to use lungs to transport sound.

In the experiment conducted by Hetherington, he introduced the animals into a soundproof chamber and measured by a laser wave the chest movements under the influence of different sound intensities. As a result of the sound he discovered that the chest of these animals vibrates and that these vibrations are carried by air from the lungs to the inner ear. In the second part of the experiment, the lungs were filled with a gas-ginenated solution to study their lung dependence and observed a 90% decrease in the number of vibrations on sounds. Therefore, the lung has come to the conclusion that they are an
important part of the hearing system in these animals.

Hetherington believes that this special use of the lungs only occurs in small animals, since the transport of sound vibrations from the skin to the lungs requires a thin, small body. According to the author, this system is a primitive auditory system of the first terrestrial animals and remains important for some species, especially for those animals that lack middle ear.