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Evolution of Ears | Your Inner Fish

This tiny animal is a Hadrocodium; a window into the evolution of our modern ears. Some time between our reptile and mammal ancestors, bones from the jaw slowly migrated up into developing ears, forming the structure that we humans live with today. The Hadrocodium, dating about 195 million years ago, was a species with jaw bones part-way through their reallignment into the ear. Along with specialized teeth and a fur coat, the Hadrocodium is considered one of the world's first mammals.