The little fly with excellent hearing.

[Mentat]

I have just read an article about a species of fly (I wish I could remember the name of the fly, but I can't ("Omri something-or-other")) that have the hearing precision of an owl (it is said to be able to pin-point an object (through hearing) with a precision that is within two compass degrees). What makes the fly interesting, though, is that it can do this in spite of being so small. You see, usually stereophonic hearing is attributed to the distance between the two ear-drums. However, there is very little distance between this kind of fly's two ear-drums.

Well, scientists have discovered that there is a very tiny "bridge" between the two ear-drums of the fly. Thus, when it hears something in one ear, it sends a vibration (across the "bridge") to the other ear-drum, and the vibration dampens the sound that comes into the other ear.

Just thought I'd share that, and any faults/questions/comments/updates are welcome.

 

[Monique]

The article from Nature:

http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:OsjAbgeBqecC:www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf%3Ffile%3D/nature/journal/v410/n6829/full/410644a0_r.html+fly+ear&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

amazing how one can steal an article w/ google :P

 

[Monique]

Originally posted by Mentat
(I wish I could remember the name of the fly, but I can't ("Omri something-or-other"))

You are almost right: Ormia ochracea

 

[Mentat]

Originally posted by Monique
The article from Nature:

http://www.google.com/search?q=cach...9/full/410644a0_r.html+fly+ear&hl=en&ie=UTF-8[/url]

amazing how one can steal an article w/ google :P

Thanks for that article, Monique, it was actually a bit more concise than the one I read.