Middle ear to sounds of higher frequency, because these are better taken up by the inner ear (which also responds to higher frequencies than those of non-mammals). The malleus, or "hammer", evolved from the articular bone of the lower jaw, and the incus, or "anvil", from the quadrate. In other vertebrates, these bones form the primary jaw joint, but the expansion of the dentary bone in mammals led to the evolution of an entirely new jaw joint, freeing up the old joint to become part of the ear. For a period of time, both jaw joints existed together, one medially and one
Ear decomposition ear. Additionally, in most cases the first ear in the sequence must be a cycle. An open ear decomposition or a proper ear decomposition is an ear decomposition in which the two endpoints of each ear after the first are distinct from each other. Ear decompositions may be used to characterize several important graph classes, and as part of efficient graph algorithms. They may also be generalized from graphs to matroids. Several important classes of graphs may be characterized as the graphs having certain types of ear decompositions. A graph is "k"-vertex-connected if the removal of any ("k" − 1)