Mole Rats Tune Out

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Mole rats tune out, according to ScienceNOW ScienceShots, March 2007. (Whole item quoted.) "Say what? With lives spent underground, it's perhaps no surprise that Fukomys mole-rats have poor hearing. They don't need to hear anything, so their ears gradually became useless over time; at least that was a popular theory. But a new study, published in the February issue of Naturwissenschaften, argues the opposite. The authors found that low-frequency sounds, such as those produced by animals and people walking overhead, become amplified in underground burrows - a phenomenon known as the 'stethoscope effect'. Mole-rats may have dialled down their hearing, it turns out, to avoid these nuisance noises."

Editorial Comment: As scientists have only ever observed mole rats to have the hearing they have now, the idea that they once had a different kind of hearing is pure faith based on a prior belief that mole rats evolved from some other kind of animal. What would be wrong with this idea, which fits the observed facts: mole rats were designed to have the right kind of hearing for the environment they live in. Find out by seeing the movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. (Ref. design, mammals, burrows)

Evidence News 23 April 2008