Is it normal to move your ears

So I suppose another way to ask the question is whether how easy it is to learn to wiggle your ears can be passed on. Click here and scroll to page if you want to see the original study. This study concluded that ear wiggling could only be passed down if one or both parents could wiggle their ears.

This is called a dominant trait. So, it was clear that ear wiggling was not a simple inherited trait. Or that multiple genes can affect ear-wiggling ability.

Or that having them just make it easier to learn to wiggle your ears. Or about one hundred other possibilities…. But as I said, some claim that everyone can learn. Give it a shot and let us know! What I want to do for the rest of the answer is talk about why we can even wiggle our ears in the first place. It is certainly a fun trait to show off, but not terribly useful. Ear wiggling happens through muscles above and behind your ears called auriculars. In some animals, these muscles are useful because ear movement is helpful.

A cat, for example, can move its ears to help it listen for tasty birds. But why would humans have these muscles? Way back when, humans and cats had the same ancestors. Ear wiggling was useful to this shared ancestor. Now, humans and cats have become very different. Ear wiggling is still useful to our feline friends. The name for this is a vestigial trait.

Chances are that you will feel one or both pull back. Look in all directions, roll them around, or anything else that comes to mind. Feel how each action might tug your ears forward or push them back. Move your brow muscles up and down.

If you can raise one eyebrow at a time, do it. If not, raise both. Alternate between the two and vary speeds. Keep your focus on your ears and how their muscles respond. Lift your cheeks as you do. As before, concentrate on what your ears do in response so you can isolate the muscles there. Part 3. Experiment with moving all three muscles. For now, see if you can move them at all. Alternate between trying to move them up, backward, and forward.

Focus on one muscle at first if needed. If you have instant control over all three muscles, good for you! But if you find that you have far more control over just one or two, focus on those for now. Continue flexing and relaxing each one to strengthen both that muscle and the ones connected to it. Move on to the others one by one. As you gain more and more control over the first muscle that you focused on, move on to whichever one feels the most responsive.

Practice that by itself at first, and then start alternating between that and the one from before. Then, when both start feeling more natural, move on to the last muscle and repeat. Use visual aids if needed. Set up a mirror so you can watch them in action. Put on a pair of glasses or shades so you can see and feel them move along with your ears.

Practice, practice, practice. Give them time to strengthen so they can work up to the challenge. The fun of being able to show off your new skill is a benefit.

Not Helpful 39 Helpful Concentrate on the muscle behind your chin not your jaw. Don't just sit there and expect them to move, because they won't. Put your pointer finger right behind your ear.

If you have to at first, move your eyebrows. Your ears might move as well. If you do this everyday, you will be able to do it without moving any other muscles except your ear ones. Not Helpful 17 Helpful Unfortunately, some people just don't have the vestigial muscle that lets people wiggle their ears. Not everyone can do it. Not Helpful 69 Helpful The amount of time to practice varies. Some people can't even do it at all.

Not Helpful 43 Helpful Some people don't have the ability because they don't have the vestigial muscle that enables them to do so, or they can't voluntarily control it. Not Helpful 38 Helpful If any of you want to try some of this stuff for yourselves, there's a bonus at the end of the article! When it comes to the "flexible tongue" skill, certain tongue length and muscle tone are a must. In addition to genetics, the environment can also be a factor in this trait's formation.

For example, Indians are particularly likely to have flexible tongues. Scientists believe that this has to do with the peculiarities of their language. The extent of tongue flexibility may vary. Researchers even went as far as to conduct a special study on the subject.

But this was not always so: our distant ancestors used to be true virtuosos at making all sorts of movements with these body parts. The fact is that the muscle responsible for ear movement was once well developed in humans but became redundant in the course of evolution. No matter how you try, you won't be able to wiggle each of your toes in turn.

That's because only the big toe and the little toe are fitted with individual muscles, while the rest are controlled en masse by just one set of muscles. Most people in the world can easily move their big toes, but only a minority can do it with little toes. Incidentally, some researchers advise women against marrying men who can wiggle their little toes separately from the rest: such people tend to attach too much importance to their personal freedom! To perform the trick, you need to have a particularly short forearm and a long tongue.

But, even with these features, you'll still need good flexibility and very strong motivation!