Ancient Reptile Hearing

260-Million year old lizard-like reptiles had large tympanums and a true inner ear, using a strong sense of hearing to hunt other land animals.

The earliest evidence yet of modern ears in terrestrial vertebrates has been discovered in reptile fossils from central Russia, paleontologists say.

The animals may have been among the first nocturnal vertebrates, using their advanced hearing and large eyes to communicate with each other and hunt insect prey at night.

This would have given them a niche during a time when Earth was crowded with animals.

The reptiles lived 260 million years ago, during the Permian period, which lasted from 299 to 251 million years ago.

That's about 50 million years earlier than modern ears were thought to have developed in terrestrial vertebrates.

Photo by Flickr user cwulmer used under a Creative Commons license.