• Question: Why can't most people wiggle their ears or roll their tongue?

    Asked by 697putk52 to James, Jake, Senga on 14 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Jake Langham

      Jake Langham answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      Most people think that tongue rolling is passed down genetically from your parents, but I saw a documentary once which said that if you try hard enough you can train yourself to do it. I’m not so sure about wiggling ears – I can’t do it and I can’t imagine how I would, but maybe I could manage it if I practiced somehow!

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      By the way there is another shape you can make your tongue into called the ‘cloverleaf’. I actually did teach myself how to do this so I can confirm it’s possible. Try it out – it looks like this

    • Photo: Senga Robertson

      Senga Robertson answered on 15 Nov 2017:

      so, being able to wiggle your ears or roll your tongue might have a little bit to do with your genetics but it’s to do with the genetics you have inherited from your parents for something called fine motor skills. That means that some people can do it far more easily than others and like Jake said, you can teach yourself to do these things if you want to…a bit like that thing some people can do with their hands to make the spock sign (http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiNy-fsyMDXAhXrK8AKHZkzDjAQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmemory-alpha.wikia.com%2Fwiki%2FVulcan_salute&psig=AOvVaw3QT6GmRLCVLbs0lutLfv0U&ust=1510834930750285)

      I can roll my tongue but I cant wiggle my ears and I’ve really tried to learn how to do it but I just cant 🙁

      sengas random fact: Did you know that the reason (some) humans can wiggle their ears is from way back in time before we evolved in to humans, a lot of mammals can move their ears around to pinpoint where a sound is coming from so that they can listen out for hunters or listen out for prey. This is what our ancestors could do so wiggly ears were pretty important for survival.

      A few other things that were useful as our species evolved that we don’t need anymore but still have is when you get that sort of horrible tingling feeling when you hear a really screechy noise (like polystyrene sqeaking or nails on a blackboard)….get this…scientists investigated this and it turns out that the type of sound from a squeaking chalk board is almost exactly the same as the warning shrieks of McCaw monkeys…..so scientists think our ancestors made a similar noise to warn a group that danger was coming.

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