MovieChat Forums > Star Trek (1966) Discussion > What would be the evolutionary advantage...

What would be the evolutionary advantage of pointy ears?

posted 8 years ago by hansenmv2002
11 replies | jump to latest

Silly q - but BBCAM is playing Enterprise Incident now.

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[–] ben-thayer 8 years ago

To open cans with? 😁

Sorry...that was a gag from The Munsters. Two schoolboys were discussing Eddie Munster, and one said "you ever see him open a tin can?" The other said "yeah, with his ears"

[–] hansenmv2002 8 years ago

i was vaguely old enuf to see that show - i was born 9/62 - god did i hate that Munsters show - never got why people liked it.

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[–] timmytony80 8 years ago

hansen2002;B/c its funny as h?ll! Way funnier than The Addams Family! And ahead of its time.

[–] grizzledgeezer 8 years ago

Well, Fred Gwynne gave an awfully good performance.

It would have been funnier without a laugh track, and had Marilyn remained aware of exactly who her relatives really were.

[–] grizzledgeezer 8 years ago

In my mash-up of Gunsmoke and Star Trek (in which a transporter malfunction swaps Spock and Festus), the following exchange occurs:

“It’s about time you told us your name and where you’re from,” Matt demanded.

“I am Spock, from the planet Vulcan, of the star system 40 Eridani A, 16 light years from Earth.”

The Terrans had trouble accepting this. “I don’t know, Matt. From the looks of him, he could very well be Mongolian.”

“What about those ears, Doc?”

“Those ears, which you Terrans find so… intriguing… are a Darwinian adaptation. Vulcan’s atmosphere is thin, and the points create diffractive cues that aid in localizing sounds.”

[–] TheOldGuyFromHalloween3 8 years ago

to confuse cats who are trying to eat you

[–] mariakelly-04164 8 years ago

It would make your elf cosplay outfit look EVEN more awesome when you wear it at next years Comic-Con.

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[–] sukhisoo 8 years ago

Pointed ears are sexy, making it more likely for you to breed. The pointy eared genes live on.

[–] KobiyashiMauru 8 years ago

Well, T'Pring wasn't that impressed. She went for the round ear. 😵

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[–] poem 8 years ago

Same as the one of the appendix: none at all.

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[–] Costumer (1825) 6 years ago

Being a bit facetious, why do cats have pointed ears.

A bit more seriously there are a couple of possibilities. It could just be chance; if there is neither an advantage or disadvantage to pointed ears, then whichever one happened to develop first would stay.

It could also be, since the ears seem bit larger than ours, that they funnel sound more efficiently (or catch more sound) than round ones.