Leftovers from the evolutionary past
Good question! In this section PlusOnline goes in search of answers to nagging questions. This time: why do we have earlobes?
Sometimes they are large, sometimes they are small and sometimes they are attached to the skull: every person has earlobes. But why actually?
The earlobe is the lower part of the auricle and consists of fatty tissue. But there is also feeling in it, because a nerve runs from your neck to it. And although we mainly use our earlobes today for wearing earrings, they did have a function in the past. Originally, the earlobe was part of the auricle and it helped your ear to absorb sound better. Also the ear muscles (the auricular muscles) once helped with this, by making it possible to move your ears and thus hear better. So they are actually a leftover from the evolutionary past.
Still, earlobes – besides being able to hang earrings in them – aren’t completely useless; Athletes and doctors sometimes want to use earlobes to measure the heart rate or the oxygen level in the blood. And because of the many nerve endings in earlobes, they are also seen as an erogenous zone.
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