Question

How many semicircular canals are found in the internal ear of a rabbit?
A. Two
B. Three
C. Four
D. One

Answer 1

Hint: Rabbit ears are also divided into three parts just like humans. Semicircular canals are the fluid filled tubes that detect different types of motions. It helps a person keep balance. They are further divided into anterior, posterior, horizontal positions. In the ampulla of each canal, fine hair is present.

Complete answer:
> Rabbit’s ears are divided into three parts; they are the outer ear, the middle ear and inner ear.

> The fluid of the internal ear is called the endolymph. The inner ear has two main parts; the cochlea and the semicircular canals. The cochlea is a spiral shaped tube structure which does the work of processing sound waves that are transmitted to it by ossicles.

> There are three semicircular canals in the internal ear of a rabbit. Each of them have different types of motion like spinning or tipping the head. They all are oriented along a different plane along a perpendicular manner.

> They have a fluid called endolymph and hair cells are present to the inner surface. The endolymph movement is very important as the hair cells are bent along with its movement and direction of bending indicates direction of movement.

Hence, the correct answer is option (B).

Note: The outer ear is also called the pinna and it has a good amount of blood supply and the blood vessel network provides good surface area for exchange of heat. When the rabbit tries to conserve body heat during cold times, there is a constriction in its ear vessels for reduction of blood flow and hence the amount of heat loss can be reduced.