Heffner R S, Heffner H E
Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Ohio 43606.
Hear Res. 1990 Jul;46(3):239-52. doi: 10.1016/0378-5955(90)90005-a.
Behavioral tests of hearing and sound localization in the North American pocket gopher (Geomys bursarius) show that it is unique among mammals. It has a severely attenuated range of hearing and only rudimentary ability to localize sound. In these respects, the hearing of gophers can be properly termed 'vestigial' and suggests that life underground can produce as severe a change in hearing as a light-less world produces in vision or an odorless world produces in olfaction.
对北美囊鼠（Geomys bursarius）的听力和声音定位进行的行为测试表明，它在哺乳动物中是独一无二的。它的听力范围严重衰减，只有基本的声音定位能力。在这些方面，囊鼠的听力可以恰当地称为“退化的”，这表明地下生活对听力产生的变化，可能如同无光世界对视觉、无气味世界对嗅觉产生的变化一样剧烈。
