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Q&A

Humanity with the Ears of a Fox--What Differs as a Result?

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In this question, we're looking at a humanity that has adapted one of the most conspicuous ways of keeping cool--larger ears. Desert animals usually have larger ears to have more room for blood capillaries. And if you have more capillaries on a thin surface, then you get rid of more of the excess heat that you don't want to have, particularly on a hot desert day. The ears of the Fennec fox in particular, the largest of all the canids, are 10-15 centimeters in length (which is big for someone between nine and 16 inches long.) In comparison, the average human ear is about 2.5 inches (6.3 centimeters) long, and the average ear lobe is 0.74 inches (1.88 cm) long and 0.77 inches (1.96 cm) wide.

So let's assume that in this alternate Earth, humans have pointed, foxlike ears as big as the Fennec's, with as many of the blood vessels used to shed off excess heat. The only prediction I see on how it'd affect human anatomy in the whole is a reduction in the size and/or number of sweat glands, as such features would be primarily redundant. But are these the only differences as a result of having the larger, more foxlike ears? Or would they result in other anatomical differences?

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This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/151953. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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