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    "story_id": "mp-2026-07-15-007",
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    "headline": "An Elephant Can Close Its Ear to Hear the Ground",
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    "dek": "Comparative anatomy points to massive middle-ear bones and a controllable ear-canal muscle as keys to long-range seismic hearing.",
    "summary": "Comparative anatomy points to massive middle-ear bones and a controllable ear-canal muscle as keys to long-range seismic hearing.",
    "body_text": "Researchers compared elephant and human middle-ear anatomy to explain how elephants perceive ground vibrations through their feet, skeleton, skull, and inner ear. The study found that elephants have unusually large, heavy middle-ear structures suited to bone conduction and a muscle that can seal the ear canal, reducing airborne competition. The mechanism may help explain seismic communication over distances of 10 kilometers or more. It is an anatomical and experimental account, not proof that every field signal travels that far under all ground conditions.",
    "why_it_matters": "Comparative anatomy points to massive middle-ear bones and a controllable ear-canal muscle as keys to long-range seismic hearing.",
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      "It is an anatomical and experimental account, not proof that every field signal travels that far under all ground conditions."
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    "tags": [
      "elephants",
      "hearing",
      "seismic communication",
      "anatomy"
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      "source_id": "source-2026-07-15-007",
      "title": "Frontiers via EurekAlert: Elephants communicate through ground vibrations",
      "publisher": "Frontiers via EurekAlert",
      "url": "https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1135199",
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      "published_at": "2026-07-14T20:00:00.000-04:00",
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    "title": "An Elephant Can Close Its Ear to Hear the Ground",
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