At what point does sensitive hearing become a hindrance instead of an advantage? (For a predator.)
I've designed a creature for my alien world that is a large apex predator known commonly as a wraith. It lives mostly in dense jungle and forest and uses stealth and ambush to catch its prey (it can take down creatures the size of a horse). Its senses include the contextually unimportant taste and touch, a sense of smell as strong as or slightly stronger than a dog and thermal sensors on its snout. The thermal is important, because it is completely blind (a result of its subterranean ancestry). Its hearing is also extremely sensitive, and can pick up high frequencies. The ears themselves are large and form a fixed tunnel that runs down the sides of the head (which is slightly elongated) from the brow.
I've contemplated adding echolocation to the wraith's arsenal, taking advantage of its sensitive hearing and reinforcing its spacial awareness, as well as giving it a powerful advantage against competition (as a disclaimer, it is part of group of blind predators, a majority of life isn't blind on this planet).
My question is, at which point does strong hearing stop being an advantage and start being a hindrance? (sudden loud noises damaging hearing, especially when human machinery comes close).
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/41493. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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While I think there is a lot to be said for a predator having incredibly sensitive hearing being able to be traumatised or damaged by something like a much louder industrial noise created by humans, I can't see this working unless there was nothing that loud naturally occurring on this planet.
So this implies there is no thunder, no storms, no trees falling nearby etc.
That's a tricky one to argue. Anything that happens normally gets built into evolution.
So maybe look at the specific frequencies - could there be something new in the environment that now harms the creature. Again, this gives you the opportunity for human impact.
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