The ability to wiggle your ears may seem like a hereditary trait, but it’s not that simple. A 1949 study found that while most ear wigglers had at least one parent who could do the same, ...

A “useless” muscle that allows some people to wiggle their ears actually activates when we strain to hear something. Our ape ancestors lost the ability to pivot their ears when they diverged ...

The muscles helped change the shape of the pinna, or the shell of the ear, funneling sound to the eardrums. The post Study ...

Human ears can’t prick up, ... people do have certain muscles around the ear that never get used, except by those people who are able to deliberately wiggle their ears as a party trick.

And yet, humans still possess ear-moving muscles, as those of us who can wiggle our ears on demand know. Science News headlines, in your inbox.

They are still used by roughly 10 to 20 percent of people with the fun ability to wiggle their ears. However, these vestigial muscles might be used more than scientists once believed.

Do your ears hang low, do they wiggle to and fro? In the latter case, that’s thanks to a so-called “neural fossil”. Skip to main content. CLOSE. Thank you!

Wiggling your ears is a fun party trick, but it turns out we do it ever so slightly when we're trying to hear better too. Scientists previously thought the muscle used to wiggle your ears was ...

Humans wiggle their ears to hear better. Image source, Getty Images. Image caption, A little muscle in our ear gets used when we're listening really intently to something, scientists say.