Scientists Discover that Moose Antlers Act as Amplifiers

The secret of a moose’s exceptional hearing is down to its antlers, apparently. Scientists have discovered that those cool, gnarly things that look so fabulous perched atop the furry freaks act as amplifiers, allowing Mr Moose to be able to hear things up to 2 miles away. Added to the animal’s already acute hearing—it’s to do with its large ears that rotate in almost every direction, apparently—antlers improve the beast’s audio capacities by as much as 19 per cent.

The father-and-son team of George and Peter Bubenik used an artificial moose ear that had been created by TV special effects team, and mounted a pair of antlers on top of it. A microphone and sound meter were placed in the ear canal, and a speaker set up 30 feet from the ear, which was rotated into different positions.

When a sound was played through the speaker (something by The Rasmus springs to mind) the sound meter recorded 59.5 decibels when the ear was facing the source of the sound, and 57.5 decibels when it was facing backwards. But when it was moved into a sideways position, and where the antlers worked as an amp, the level came out at 61 decibels. [Daily Mail]