Ear between the outer ear and the inner ear. It consists of an air-filled cavity called the tympanic cavity and includes the three ossicles and their attaching ligaments; the auditory tube; and the round and oval windows. The ossicles are three small bones that function together to receive, amplify, and transmit the sound from the eardrum to the inner ear. The ossicles are the malleus (hammer), incus (anvil), and the stapes (stirrup). The stapes is the smallest named bone in the body. The middle ear also connects to the upper throat at the nasopharynx via the pharyngeal opening of the Eustachian
Anvil open the shells of molluscs much as thrushes do, to sea otters that bring stones to the surface and drift on their backs, holding the stones on their chests as anvils on which they break open clams and similar hard-shelled prey. Gulls of various species, some crows, and large birds of prey smash open hard food items, such as bones and tortoises, by dropping them onto rocks. Anvil firing is the practice of firing an anvil into the air using gunpowder. It has been popular in California, the eastern United States and the southern United States, much like how fireworks