Beautiful cat alone looking at the scenery

The shape and position of the cat's ears allow it to hear very well. Cat ears are large, erect, and conical in shape.

The shape of a cat's outer ear, called the pinna, picks up sound waves and transmits them through the ear canal to the eardrum. The pinna is controlled by 30 muscles, which allow it to rotate 180 degrees. In contrast, dogs have about 18 muscles that control their pins.

Cats can control each ear pinna independently, so they can rotate each ear to determine the source of the sound.