Associated tympanic bullar and cochlear hypertrophy define adaptations to true deserts in African gerbils and laminate-toothed rats (Muridae: Gerbillinae and Murinae).

This study concludes that in both arid and semi-arid adapted laminate-toothed rats and gerbils there is bulla and associated cochlea hypertrophy, particularly in true desert species. Gerbils also show tightly coiled cochlea but the significance of this is debatable and may have nothing to do with adaptations to any specific acoustics in the desert environment. PMID: 30474264 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Journal of Anatomy)

from #Head and Neck by Sfakianakis via simeraentaxei on Inoreader https://ift.tt/2TPi40O