What was the function of muscles that move ears

Basically, they would have to mutate away. A mutation is a small mistake in DNA that happens a lot more than you might think. Our cells are pretty good at repairing mutations, but sometimes one slips through.

If an important part of the DNA gets mutated, the cell or organism with the mutation may not survive. The mutation will die out with it. If that happens often enough, that trait disappears. This is what happened to being able to make vitamin C in people and guinea pigs.

This is also why dogs have a much stronger sense of smell than humans. Dogs have about million odor receptors. Humans have gradually lost the need for all of these and built up mutations, so now we only have 5 million. They may not serve much purpose, but they still form an important base for the ear. Evolution can only build on what came before, so it might not be possible to get rid of them and still have ears! Ear wiggling might not be so useful for you, but your cat is sure happy it can move its ears for hunting!

Since we need the muscles around our ear called auriculars for more than ear wiggling, odds are this vestigal trait will be with us forever.

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The Tech Interactive. Live Science. Have you ever seen someone wiggle one ear? How about both at the same time? Muscles in the scalp and in the face, jaw and the neck may facilitate movement of the ears, according to Jocelyn Selim in the June issue of Biology and Medicine. Even the simple act of swallowing shifts the position of the ears. Some little-known muscles are responsible for moving the ears. Animals have the ability to shift the position of their ears, but humans do not.

The external parts of the ear include the pinna, which is the outer, cartilage portion of the ear. This projection of cartilage that grows from the scalp is surrounded by muscles that control functions such as talking, chewing and swallowing. When these muscles are engaged, the pinna or auricle of the ear appears to move.

The cartilage portion of the ear itself doesn't contain any muscles, so it can't move on its own. The anterior, superior and posterior, or front and rear auricle muscles, may also help shift the position of the ear, according to Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias 1. This gives it an appearance of movement.