Nina is the celebrated star at every birthday party: not only can she make great faces, but she can also wiggle her ears. What is nowadays performed for entertainment at parties and celebrations and mastered only by very few, was in earlier times for all mammals, to which we humans also belong by genus, an important instrument for survival.
History
At times when people were still hunter-gatherers, living in the wild and going hunting every day, the ears of our ancestors were mobile. This enabled them to locate sounds and possible dangers while hunting. Over the millennia, this ability has regressed. The ear muscles responsible for this movement are barely developed. We no longer need this ability in today’s civilized society.
Ear wiggling can be trained by anyone
Nevertheless, a few people possess the ability to wiggle their ears. In animals, such as dogs and rabbits, these abilities can still be observed. They often “prick” their ears, put them up and turn them in different directions to quickly hear their master’s call or sounds in the forest. But remnants of these “ear wiggling muscles” have every human. So all non-ear wigglers can exercise them too.