Why do many animals have pink ears?

Why do many animals have pink ears, while their bodies are different colors? 

The short answer to this question is that the ears have lots of blood vessels near the skin, and the skin here is quite thin. Blood vessels near the skin help animals - and humans alike - maintain a moderate body temperature.

Animals that live in cold parts of the world often have lighter skin. If an animal has fair skin, the blood vessels near the surface of their ear skin will make the ears look pink.

But the truth is, most animals actually don't have pink ears. The following is an explanation of The Conversation page.

Animals evolved and their ears had different shapes and colors

You may have heard of evolution. Evolution is the process by which animals change their appearance, the way they hunt and how they attract mates. All these changes and adaptations will enhance their chances of survival.

Evolution also affects animal skin color.

Elephants are the animals with the largest ears.

Near the equator, the climate is hot, animals often have darker skin, including their ears. African elephants, for example, have fairly dark ears. They are also the animals with the largest ears on the planet.

Meanwhile, in colder climates, animal skin color is often paler and pink. The same is true with humans. The skin color (and ear color) of the first people who migrated out of Africa to colder areas often became brighter.

Why are skin colors different in different climates? Skin pigmentation, which gives the skin its color, can protect skin against sunburn and skin cancer. Animals live in colder places, they don't need dark skin pigmentation to survive. Light skin also helps animals stay warmer because it helps reduce heat loss, which is convenient in colder climates.

So why do animal bodies come in all sorts of colors, but their ears are pink?

For most species, the color of the coat, skin color, or body coat often develop and act as a camouflage. That allows animals to blend into nature and avoid hunting, or with predators, fur, skin color will help them hide. 

Like ear color and size, body color also helps animals keep their body temperature at a moderate level.

But even if the animals have fur, scales, or feathers that are brown, orange, white, or any color, they can have light under skin.

And so, when an animal has ears and the ears do not have much hair around, you will see that the ears appear pink because the blood vessels are close to the surface of the skin.

African wild cat.

Ear shape and size

In animals, ears have many different shapes and sizes.

For example, in bats, or wild cats, their ears are larger than their body size - this helps them hear better because they can detect more sound waves.

These creatures and large-eared animals have great hearing, especially at night. In contrast, moles have very small ears because they need to burrow - large ears will hinder the process of burrowing.

The arctic fox has rather small ears.

Another downside of a large ear is that the animals' bodies can lose a lot of heat. That's why animals living in cold places, like Arctic foxes, have fairly small ears.