(11-03-2015, 05:00 PM)Setoh Aliapoh Wrote: I'm personally not convinced that Au Ra horns are actually ears.
Au Ra, despite looking reptilian, are mammals. That's plain as the... er... tits on an Au Ra female. That said, they do have some characteristics of reptiles or birds: some scales being the big one. Neither reptiles nor birds have big external ear structures. Some reptiles have external ears, in the sense that their eardrums are basically right there on the surface, but most reptiles and all birds have recessed ears with no external structures, and they hear very well.
I see no reason why Au Ra wouldn't have similar ears. They all have full heads of hair, which would cover a bird-like ear hole. The horns, then, would simply be horns. They might be hollow structures that improve their vocal resonance, or they might be solid horns, or something else entirely. But there's no reason to suspect that, since you see no external ear and you do see external horns, that the horns are actually organs of hearing.
I'm pretty sure there was a statement specifically saying they were used for hearing.
Heavensward Website Wrote:The curved horns and beautifully patterned scales that characterize the Au Ra oft give rise to speculation that this Hyur-like race native to the Far Eastern continent of Othard are, in fact, the progeny of dragons. This, however, has long been disputed, with scholars citing several distinct differences in the two races as evidence of decidedly dissimilar roots—the first and foremost being the enhanced hearing and spatial recognition granted by an Au Ra's cranial projections (traits not attributed to draconian horns), and the second being the gross disproportion of body mass between Auri males and females (again, a trait widely unseen in dragons)
How much more evidence do you need?