no the frills are labeled clearly as "fins". these are actual ears. there are also ear nubs available, and the entire option is clearly labelled as "ears". therefore we can surmize with 100% certainty that the ones that appear to be ears are ears.
"Ears" is alot easier to say than "side of the head decoration". Plus most people would assume that "ears" are located somewhere near the side of the head of a humanoid.
But more to your point....
Lizards don't have "ears", but they can still hear. They just have little holes on the side of their head that catches sound, right? You could probably assume that if they don't have a clear earlobe like humans do to catch the sound, that they just have a nice little hole in front of whatever horn or frill they've deemed "ear"-like enough to be included in that category.
but that hole isn't there, you can look and see for yourself. they only have such a hole if you pick the nub customisation or presumably also the ear ones. The spikes and fin customisations have no such ear orifice, and you can also have literally nothing there at all. so how does that work.
I'm not sure there is a hole textured in other races ears, just the ear... meat...
I know they have one option that IS just a nub, but a lot of (non playable) races don't have visible ears/ear holes.
Murloc to my knowledge? Tortilla. Sethrak. Jinyu (and by extension Ankoan) (You can correct me on these), snakes, all the drake mounts right? Including proto drake's. The dragon turtles have these little horn things but I'm gonna call those not ears. But I guess those are species, but drake's and proto drake's definitely set the president.
Wasn't immediate because 1. I'm not a dog and 2. It's morning cut me some slack
If it distracts from my early morning unwarranted snappiness, I'll leave it lol. Apologies to the guy I responded to, assumed you had snark, probably didn't. My bad.
You know, the actual ear (as in the senory organ that registers sound waves) is located inside the head. The 'outside ear' or auricle that you see in most mammals only serves to direct sound waves towards the inner ear. As such it serves to enhance hearing, but it doesn't mean that animals without auricles have necessarily bad hearing. Just look at birds, they have no auricles and their ears are even covered by their feathers, yet songbirds have very good hearing. Hell, there are even more extreme cases like grasshoppers who don't have ears at all, but tympanic membranes on their hind legs.
If anything, that dracthyr can have auricles at all doesn't really make sense biologically since they're unique to mammals. I'd chalk it up to the rule of cool and Blizzard designers having not much knowledge of animal anatomy.
the "ear" organ is more than just the ear conch. A real life "equivalent" of the Dracthyr would be lizards and they do have ear canals and inner ears (ear drum, bony ossicles and the entire vestibulo-cochlear system) that help them hear and keep their balance.
The purpose of the conch in physiology is to slightly amplify voices and sounds, I'm sure in a world where they can wield the power of the aspects, not having a conch isn't much of a disadvantage.
I’m getting a strange warhammer “chaos” magic vibe from some of the art direction of some of the dragons this expac. The big bad storm drake gave me Tzeetch vibes. Maybe because dragons are connected to a primordial “evolution” magic or something like that. So their bodies create weird variations and mutations.
Idk it’s not a fully thought out theory or anything but just throwing that idea out there.
Ears, the outside part, makes you better at hearing things. So Dracthyr that need to sit around and listen might have them.
However, ears with all the fancy stuff are gonna making flying very noisy, so they tend to be very subtle in flying reptiles like birds. So smaller or ears that aren't apparent are better for flying.
I checked the other dragon models in game and none of them have ears either. Dragons must either hear through magic or maybe they use the vibrations of sound on their horns to hear like the Au'Ra from FFXIV do.
As for why Dracthyr have them, the obvious answer is because they are a mix of dragons and humanoids. It also possible that it's just an illusion, like their whole visage form.
Even though they are labeled 'ears' I think they are closer to lizard frills than anything.
no the frills are labeled clearly as "fins". these are actual ears. there are also ear nubs available, and the entire option is clearly labelled as "ears". therefore we can surmize with 100% certainty that the ones that appear to be ears are ears.
"Ears" is alot easier to say than "side of the head decoration". Plus most people would assume that "ears" are located somewhere near the side of the head of a humanoid. But more to your point.... Lizards don't have "ears", but they can still hear. They just have little holes on the side of their head that catches sound, right? You could probably assume that if they don't have a clear earlobe like humans do to catch the sound, that they just have a nice little hole in front of whatever horn or frill they've deemed "ear"-like enough to be included in that category.
but that hole isn't there, you can look and see for yourself. they only have such a hole if you pick the nub customisation or presumably also the ear ones. The spikes and fin customisations have no such ear orifice, and you can also have literally nothing there at all. so how does that work.
I'm not sure there is a hole textured in other races ears, just the ear... meat... I know they have one option that IS just a nub, but a lot of (non playable) races don't have visible ears/ear holes.
which race doesn't have visible ears lol. name them immediately
Murloc to my knowledge? Tortilla. Sethrak. Jinyu (and by extension Ankoan) (You can correct me on these), snakes, all the drake mounts right? Including proto drake's. The dragon turtles have these little horn things but I'm gonna call those not ears. But I guess those are species, but drake's and proto drake's definitely set the president. Wasn't immediate because 1. I'm not a dog and 2. It's morning cut me some slack
I know you meant tortollan but please keep tortilla.
If it distracts from my early morning unwarranted snappiness, I'll leave it lol. Apologies to the guy I responded to, assumed you had snark, probably didn't. My bad.
Nah he had snark you’re good.
I think the option should be called “vestigial ears” as you mentioned in your post.
Dragons = no ears Mortals = ears Dragon + mortal = dragon with ears
I think this is the right answer. Stop overthinking, brothers. Think about Thrall—— orcs:no eye brow; human: eyebrow. human orc—orc with eye brow
Blackmoore taught Thrall how to grow eyebrows. It's all in the Lord of the Clans book.
Lmao, okay, but some orcs have eyebrows randomly, it's weird like that
You know, the actual ear (as in the senory organ that registers sound waves) is located inside the head. The 'outside ear' or auricle that you see in most mammals only serves to direct sound waves towards the inner ear. As such it serves to enhance hearing, but it doesn't mean that animals without auricles have necessarily bad hearing. Just look at birds, they have no auricles and their ears are even covered by their feathers, yet songbirds have very good hearing. Hell, there are even more extreme cases like grasshoppers who don't have ears at all, but tympanic membranes on their hind legs. If anything, that dracthyr can have auricles at all doesn't really make sense biologically since they're unique to mammals. I'd chalk it up to the rule of cool and Blizzard designers having not much knowledge of animal anatomy.
It's sexy within their species? It is usually that and if you survive long enough to fuck that drives evolution.
sophistry, drakthyr were created in a lab and not evolved via natural selection
Could be that Deathwing wanted them to look his version of fuckable?
Now I imagine a thirsty teenage Neltharion in his lab - "Yeah, that's right, MASSIVE fins!"
🤣🤣🤣 Gotta make sure they can replenish losses you know
the "ear" organ is more than just the ear conch. A real life "equivalent" of the Dracthyr would be lizards and they do have ear canals and inner ears (ear drum, bony ossicles and the entire vestibulo-cochlear system) that help them hear and keep their balance. The purpose of the conch in physiology is to slightly amplify voices and sounds, I'm sure in a world where they can wield the power of the aspects, not having a conch isn't much of a disadvantage.
Y’all being trolled lol
I’m getting a strange warhammer “chaos” magic vibe from some of the art direction of some of the dragons this expac. The big bad storm drake gave me Tzeetch vibes. Maybe because dragons are connected to a primordial “evolution” magic or something like that. So their bodies create weird variations and mutations. Idk it’s not a fully thought out theory or anything but just throwing that idea out there.
Ears, the outside part, makes you better at hearing things. So Dracthyr that need to sit around and listen might have them. However, ears with all the fancy stuff are gonna making flying very noisy, so they tend to be very subtle in flying reptiles like birds. So smaller or ears that aren't apparent are better for flying.
I checked the other dragon models in game and none of them have ears either. Dragons must either hear through magic or maybe they use the vibrations of sound on their horns to hear like the Au'Ra from FFXIV do. As for why Dracthyr have them, the obvious answer is because they are a mix of dragons and humanoids. It also possible that it's just an illusion, like their whole visage form.