Ear tufts are a collection of fur or feathers found on animals which can resemble an animal's ear or is near the animal's ear.

Cats

Ear tufts are not found on all cat breeds. The ear tufts are located on the tips of cat ears and are also known as lynx tipping. Cat ear tufts are often confused with cat ear furnishings which is the fur that comes out of the opening of the ear. Cat ear tufts assist with keeping debris out of the ear and guides sound into the ear canal.

Birds

Bird ear tufts are skin projections covered in feathers found in some bird species, most notably various species of

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

, vaguely resembling mammalian ears, but unrelated to the animal's hearing. Theories about their function range from improved ability to camouflage, aiding in finding a suitable mate, to giving a more threatening appearance to discourage predators.

In Araucana chicken

In the

Araucana The Araucana ( es, Gallina Mapuche, italic=no) is a breed of domestic chicken from Chile. Its name derives from the Araucanía region of Chile where it is believed to have originated. It lays blue-shelled eggs, one of very few breeds that do so. ...

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...

breed, ear tufts are a

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA replication, DNA or viral repl ...

. It causes a skin projection covered in feathers to appear on the sides of the head near the ears. This mutation is dominant semi-lethal. Consequently, ear tufts are very unusual and difficult to breed, as most Araucanas are hatched without tufts.

Lethal gene

Ear tufts in the Araucana breed of chicken are associated with a lethal

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...

: An ear tufted hen mated with an ear tufted cock produce chicks with deformed ears and mouth that die before hatching. Also, the rumplessness of the breed makes breeding Araucanas together have very short backs. In any other chicken breed, ear tufts are undesirable. ''The Chicken Encyclopedia'' by Gail Damerow, pg. 59

References

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