This Turkey Tuesday is about the uncanny ability that toms have to locate the source of our calls. Each year I post about this ability, because every turkey hunter gets humbled at some point as a tom sneaks into our location, as if he were guided by GPS. So how do they do this? One, look at the ear canal directly behind the eye – there’s no external ear flap like we have to funnel sound, but a tom has an inner and middle ear like we do. And, that ear canal is like a funnel, in that it directs sounds into the middle and inner ears. Two, the opening of the ear is covered by specialized feathers called auriculars, which cut down on noise from wind and other sounds in the environment. Three, the sounds that reach a tom register at different frequencies in each ear, so in essence the volume registers differently as well. Lastly, because the ears function independently, each one transmits a slightly different piece of information to the brain as to the direction and distance to the sound. And because the bird constantly makes subtle changes to the position of the head, the brain tweaks the information it’s given to nail down the location of the sound. The take home is, a wild turkey’s hearing provides the bird with an uncanny ability to locate the source of sounds in the environment and then travel directly to that location.
Pic by Dale Kauzlaric.
