In addition to their use for hearing, ears contain many blood vessels that allow heat to escape into the air. Animals that
live in warm climates tend to have ears with large areas exposed to the
environment. Animals in cold climates have a more compact ear that keeps
exposure to the environment to a minimum. The photographs below show a
jackrabbit from desert regions of the southwestern United States and a fennec
fox from northern Africa with large ears, and a snowshoe hare and an arctic fox
with small ears. Discuss how differences in ear size in these organisms might
have occurred. In your answer, be sure to: A. explain how the size of these
animals' ears can help the animals survive in their environment B.. identify one
process that most likely resulted in the animals in warm climates having large
ears, while animals in cold climates have small ears C.. state how the
overproduction of offspring in each species for many generations contributed to
the presence of different ear sizes