Hello my wonderful friends and fellow steemians, greetings to you all. Trust you are all catching fun? My dear pet lovers, trust your pets are doing great? Hazel and Lola are really doing great, helping me to appreciate nature and rhe designs.

Have you been opportune to see the ear of a
Rabbit? Perhaps you have seen Hazel and Lola's ears from their pictures that I posted. It is amazing to behold. Apart from its shape, have you ever observed how they turn their ears at will? It can be very fun to watch. However,you might want to know why they rotate their ears to any side they want to. I myself have been wonderful why. Each time they hear a sound, they easily turn their ears to that direction, this has put me on an enquiry and thank goodness that I have been able to confirm my suspects or findings. Please, keep reading let me share this amazing feature of a rabbit with you.

Rabbits ears

Rabbit ears have a very unique shape. Rabbit ears are very long and have a curve that turns them into satellite dishes on the bunny’s head. Funny! Isn't it? Why would a rabbit want this kind of shape? You may want to know, well, their ears are shaped that way to achieve the same purpose for which a satellite dish are made which is to helps catch and amplify important signals. You see, this is amazing! But why is it so?

As Survival strategy

Rabbits are a prey species, so they need to be constantly monitoring for small sounds that may indicate a predator is near. They also need to be able to figure out exactly where that sound came from. The unique shape of the rabbit’s ears, and the rabbit’s ability to tilt, turn or move their ears, gives the rabbit the ability to pinpoint the location of the sound. Unlike human ears which are not as good at this activity (if you’ve ever heard someone else’s cell phone beep in a meeting and mistaken it for your own you have experienced one of the limitations of the human ear), rabbit ears are designed that way as their survival strategy.

For Signals

Additionally, Rabbit ears are signals, Just like cats, rabbits can use their ears to signal things to other rabbits. In fact, ears are an important part of body language for any species that can move its ears. Rabbit “ear language” is pretty complex, but a lot of it is similar to cats. Rabbits have different reasons for how they keep their ears, for instance, forward facing ears are generally considered happier, while ears that are turned backwards indicate a more annoyed rabbit (unless the rabbit is listening for a sound behind them). Rabbits may even “waggle” their ears at a favourite human to encourage the human to interact with them. Wow, wonders of creation! Hence, one need to be very observant so as to observe them move their ears. Yes, Spending some time watching rabbits closely and paying attention to what they do to their ears and/or body in response to different events is a wonderful way to learn the body language of any species!

Hazel and Lola

Lola's ear

As Air Conditioner

Rabbit ears serve another purpose. They act as air conditioner. How? Let's go d out
Rabbits cannot sweat. While people often say dogs and cats cannot sweat, both of these species actually do sweat through their paw pads – it’s just not enough to regulate their temperature. Rabbits, on the other hand, do not have paw pads like cats or dogs (rabbit feet are entirely covered in fur) so they cannot sweat at all.
As you can see from this picture, rabbits feet are entirely covered with fur

Rabbits also do not pant to cool off (in fact, should you spot your rabbit panting it is a medical emergency and you need to get your rabbit to a vet immediately). So how is a rabbit to keep cool during hot days? This is where the Amazing ears of bunnies come into play.
A rabbit's ears contain an extensive network of blood vessels that provide a large surface area for heat exchange. These vessels swell (vasodilation) when the rabbit is hot, and contract (vasoconstriction) when it is cool, so much so that they are barely visible in cold weather

Rabbits will use their ears as air conditioners in hot weather which acts more like radiators. During hot weather, a rabbit will increase the blood flow in their ears and will position their ears to catch any available breeze. Rabbit ears have very thin skin and thin fur, so heat can radiate away from the rabbit into the air.

Caution

However, this is not a terribly effective cooling mechanism, especially for indoor rabbits. So how can we, who have indoor bunnies help them to maintain their body temperature?

1. Adding a cool ceramic tile for your rabbit to sit on

2. Ensuring your rabbit has shade and

3. Moving your rabbit to a cooler area of the house

These are all very helpful to your bunny when the temperatures start to climb. Rabbits do not tolerate heat very well, so keeping an eye on the temperature is important to keep your bunnies hopping and happy.

CONCLUSION

So far so good, we have been able to see the uses of amazing bunnies ears. What can you say about the design? It is wonderful. An intelligent Creator is certainly behind this amazing designs. O nest time you see a bunny rotate their ears, you will certainly not be surprised but admire the rotation, not so?

Sources:

1. www.discoverwildlife.com.

2. https://www.calgaryhumane.ca/how-rabbits-hear-the-long-and-short-of-bunny-ears/

Cc: @steemcurator01
@steemcurator02
@fur-friends
@steemalive