What could make a species evolve downward facing ears?
To give an illustration of what I mean with downward ear, here's an illustration taken from mtrakholisova's Pinterest.
I want to make a species with downward facing ears. They cannot be moved facing upward or horizontal, but can be slightly moved upward (I hope you get it).
What I have in mind initially is that they evolved from a fox (furry ears), but this doesn't explain why the ears evolved to face downward (rather than horizontally).
There's magic in this world, but I would like to explain this using science, or very little magic. You may use magic, but the process on how the ears started to evolve downward should be as natural as possible.
I expect answers to explain the advantages of having this kind of ear (or disadvantages of not having downward facing ears). This species does not have to evolve from a fox, or have furry ears. I'm only interested in how this type of ear evolved.
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/95157. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
Sexual Selection
Downward facing ears can be a problem. Thinking about Beagles long floppy ears can mean that there is not enough air circulation and the ears can get infected. If something makes an animal more prone to dying, but the individual still manages to survive then it must be pretty good in other aspects.
The females like males with downward facing ears because it's not as advantageous as normal ears and over time this becomes the norm.
Predators and prey underneath them
Imagine you have to fear a horde of giant worms who are out to devour you. It's better to have your ears pick up more sounds from the ground so you hear them coming before they are in range to get you.
The same goes with prey. If there are small animals hiding underground and they are very yummy, but hard to find and never above ground for some reason it would be good to pick up sounds of your favourite treat as you go around. This makes survival far easier.
Increased sense of smell by trapping scents
Getting back to the Beagle their long ears and lips help in trapping scent. So if you want to go hunting long downward facing ears might help you with picking up the scent of your prey.
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