Animals With The Best Hearing Ability

Bat Bats are known for having the best hearing of all land mammals.  Their front limbs have adapted into wings and they are known for their excellent flying ability.  Bats use their hearing and a process called echolocation to detect prey and objects when flying. 

Moth Surprisingly, moths have exceptional hearing and can even detect bats from 100 feet away before the bat even senses them.  There are around 160,000 species of moths in the world, but none have better hearing than the Greater Wax moth. 

Owl There are around 225 species of owl in the world and they are best known for their incredible eyesight.  However, these magnificent birds of prey also have excellent hearing which aids their nightly hunting activity.  In most species of owl, the left ear is slightly lower than the right ear. 

Dolphin Like bats, dolphins use echolocation to detect prey and objects.  However, these incredible aquatic mammals use echolocation underwater rather than in the air.  Their hearing is seven times better than humans and they can hear sounds between 20 and 150 kHz. 

Dog Dogs have long been known as man’s best friend and are loyal companions and working animals.  They have much better hearing than us and can hear almost twice as many frequencies as we can.  Dogs can also hear sounds from much further away than we can – four times in fact.  

Cat If you think that dogs have good hearing, then a cat is even better.  Cats’ ears are controlled by 30 muscles and they can hear high-pitched sounds up to 64 kHz.  They can even rotate their ears up to 180 degrees.

Horse Horses have the ability to hear sounds from as far as 2.5 miles away. They can detect sounds up to 25 kHz and can rotate their ears 180 degrees. This allows them to determine the exact direction that the sound is coming from. Hearing is essential to horses as they are flight animals.

Wolf Hearing, along with the sense of smell is vital to wolves who rely on it when hunting.  Wolves can hear sounds as far away as 10 miles in the open and 6 miles in forest regions and up to a maximum frequency of 80 kHz. Their ears are able to rotate independently which allows them to determine the exact direction that a sound is coming from. 

Elephant Elephants have excellent hearing and their large ears are used to funnel sound waves which make their hearing especially good.  They often communicate with a number of low-frequency rumblings and sounds that aren’t audible to the human ear.

Pigeon Pigeons have the best hearing in the animal kingdom thanks to a unique adaptation that allows them to hear in “infrasounds.” Pigeons are one of the best navigators in the animal world. They have even been used to carry messages during wars, such as the level of trust placed in them.