Buzz
We all know that bats use echolocation for navigation, a skill that's familiar even to young children. But what most people don’t realize is that this ability extends beyond bats. Dolphins, whales, and even some species of birds and mice share this extraordinary talent. Recent discoveries have revealed just how complex and powerful bat vocalizations truly are. These nocturnal hunters use their voices for a wide array of incredible purposes. The night sky echoes with their chirps and squeaks, and we are only beginning to decode their mysteries. If you think the clicks and whistles of Flipper are impressive, wait until you hear the real sound experts—bats.
10. They're Unfoolable
It was once believed that bats could only sense moving insects, but that theory has been debunked. In fact, some moths freeze in place when they hear a bat approaching. But the big-eared bat from South America didn’t get the memo. Studies show that this bat species can even detect dragonflies resting motionless. By emitting a continuous stream of sonar, the big-eared bat can quickly determine within three seconds whether its target is edible. This clever tactic allows the bat to feast on sleeping insects that remain unaware of the approaching predator.
At first, scientists were convinced that it was impossible for a bat’s echolocation to be precise enough to differentiate between shapes. They argued that the idea was unthinkable, stating, "Active perception of silent and motionless prey in dense understory vegetation by echolocation alone has long been regarded impossible." But the common big-eared bat proved them wrong.
To make a point, the common big-eared bat went a step further. Not only can it detect the shape of a dragonfly, but it can also tell apart a real dragonfly from a fake one. Researchers conducted an experiment with real dragonflies and insect-shaped decoys made from paper and tin foil. While the bats showed interest in the decoys, not one bat took a bite. This remarkable ability allows them to discern not only the shape of an object using echolocation but also the material from which it is made.
9. Bats Can Echolocate Plants
Many bats rely solely on fruits for their diet, yet they continue to hunt exclusively at night. So how do they find food in the dark? Scientists speculated that bats must rely on their keen sense of smell, since it should be nearly impossible to distinguish individual shapes in the dense foliage using echolocation. Everything should theoretically appear as one big blur.
While it's possible for bats to locate insects on leaves, no one thought that these nocturnal flyers could use sound to identify plants (and just to clarify, bats aren’t actually rodents). But glossophagine bats have proven everyone wrong. These remarkable bats can locate their favorite plants using only their echolocation. Scientists remain puzzled about how they manage such a feat. According to them, 'The echoes created by plants are highly complex signals, combining together all the reflections from the many leaves that a plant contains.' In simpler terms, it’s a very challenging task. But the glossophagine bats navigate it with ease, pinpointing flowers and fruit without any trouble. Some plants even grow leaves shaped like satellite dishes, which are designed to attract bats. Once again, bats demonstrate how much we still have to learn about sound.
8. Ultrasonic Mastery
Bats produce ultrasonic chirps that can reach incredibly high frequencies. Human hearing spans from 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz, which is impressive. For comparison, the best soprano singer can only hit a note around 1.76 kilohertz. Most bats, however, can chirp between 12 to 160 kilohertz, which is comparable to dolphins.
The clear-winged woolly bat holds the record for the highest-pitched sound made by any animal. Their chirps start at an astonishing 235 kilohertz—well beyond the range of human hearing—and peak at 250 kilohertz. This tiny mammal can produce sounds 120 times higher than the world’s best soprano. Why such extreme frequencies? Researchers believe these high-pitched sounds help concentrate the bat’s sonar beam, making it highly focused and short-ranged. In the thick, cluttered jungles where they live, this gives them an advantage in locating insects among the leaves and branches. They focus their sonic vision like no other bat.
7. Exceptional Hearing
Bat ears are often overlooked, with most people more interested in the sounds bats make than how they actually hear. However, researchers at Virginia Tech decided to focus on bat ears. What they discovered was astonishing. In just one-tenth of a second (100 milliseconds), a bat can dramatically change the shape of its ears to suit various acoustic tasks. To put that in perspective, humans take about three times longer to blink than it takes a horseshoe bat to reconfigure its ears to detect specific sounds.
Bat ears are like high-tech antennas. Not only can bats adjust their ears at lightning speeds, but they also have the ability to process overlapping echoes arriving just 2 millionths of a second apart. They can distinguish between objects that are only 0.3 millimeters apart. To give you an idea, 0.3 millimeters is about the thickness of a human hair. It’s no wonder the Navy studies bats—these creatures have biological sonar that surpasses our best technological advancements.
6. Bats Can Identify Their Allies
Like humans, bats have close friends they like to stick with. When it’s time to settle down for the day, the hundreds of bats in a colony will roost with the same social group over and over. So how do they find each other in the crowd? Simple—they call out to their friends.
Studies have shown that bats can recognize each other’s calls within their social group. Every bat has a distinct vocalization that carries a unique ‘acoustical signature.’ This sounds an awful lot like bats having names. These individual vocalizations are believed to be a form of greeting. After they meet, bats even engage in a friendly ritual of sniffing each other’s armpits—because what better way to show you’re best buds than by sniffing bat pits?
Bats also communicate their individuality when hunting. If several bats are foraging in the same area, they’ll make a special call to announce, ‘This bug is mine.’ Interestingly, these foraging calls are just as unique as the bats themselves, so when one bat claims a meal, the others know exactly who laid claim to it.
5. Bat Communication Network
Colonies of disc-winged bats are wanderers, constantly on the move to evade predators. They settle in the curled leaves of heliconia and calathea plants, which can house a small group of these tiny bats. But how do these nomadic creatures stay in touch with the rest of their colony when they’re spread out across the forest? They use the natural acoustics of the plants to call out to their friends.
The leaf funnels serve to amplify the calls of the bats inside, boosting their sound by as much as two decibels. They also make the calls 'highly directional.' Research shows that bats nestled inside their leafy shelters use a unique call to help their colony mates locate them. Bats on the outside respond, playing a game of Marco Polo, until they can find their fellow bats. They usually have little trouble finding the right roost.
The leaves are even better at amplifying incoming calls, cranking up the volume by up to 10 decibels. It’s like living inside a giant megaphone.
4. Winged Noises
Not all bats rely on vocalizations. In fact, most Old World fruit bats lack the ability to produce the typical clicks and squeaks used by other bats for echolocation. But that doesn't stop them from navigating in the dark. It was recently discovered that many fruit bats can navigate using clapping sounds made with their wings. Researchers were so shocked by this finding that they went to extreme lengths to ensure these sounds weren’t coming from the bats’ mouths. They even sealed the bats' mouths and anesthetized their tongues to make absolutely sure they weren't cheating with vocalizations.
So how do these bats use their wings to make noises for echolocation? Believe it or not, no one really knows yet. Flying and clapping at the same time is a mystery these clever bats are keeping to themselves. What’s clear is that this is the first time any animal has been discovered using non-vocal sounds for navigation, and scientists are quite thrilled by the discovery.
3. Fishing Bats
Some bats catch fish, which might seem impossible considering that echolocation doesn’t penetrate water. It just bounces off like a wall. So, how do fishing bats manage to catch fish? Their echolocation is so precise that it can detect the ripples on the water's surface, revealing the fish below. The bat never actually sees the fish itself; it tracks the ripples in the water to find its prey. That’s a truly remarkable skill.
It turns out that some bats use the same technique to locate frogs. When a frog sitting in the water notices a bat, it freezes. The ripples it creates are what give it away. Interestingly, young bats are also programmed to believe that any smooth surface is water. If you put a smooth plate in the jungle, young bats would dive at it, trying to drink from it. So, while adult bats can read the surface of a lake with incredible precision, juvenile bats can’t tell the difference between a puddle and a serving platter.
2. The Quickest Mouth in the Animal Kingdom
There are ordinary muscles, and then there are muscles that push the limits. Rattlesnakes have incredible tail muscles that make their rattle shake at lightning speed. The toadfish’s swim bladder holds the title for the fastest muscle in vertebrates. But when it comes to mammals, nothing beats the larynx of a bat. This incredible muscle contracts an astonishing 200 times per second—100 times faster than the blink of an eye. With each contraction, the bat produces sound.
Scientists were curious about the maximum limit of bat sonar. Since it only takes about one millisecond for echoes to return, their calls would start overlapping at 400 echoes per second. Research shows that bats can hear up to 400 echoes per second, meaning their larynx is the only thing holding them back from going faster.
In theory, some bats might even exceed this record. No other mammal is known to have muscles that move this quickly. The secret behind their incredible sonic abilities lies in their cells, which are packed with extra mitochondria (the body’s energy producers) and calcium-transporting proteins. This power boost allows their muscles to contract at a much higher rate, making them literally supercharged.
1. Silent Sight
Bats use echolocation to locate their prey, but some prey animals, like moths, have evolved the ability to detect bat sonar. This is a perfect example of the ongoing evolutionary arms race between predator and prey. As a predator develops a new hunting tool, its prey finds a way to defend itself. Many moths, for instance, drop to the ground and remain still when they hear a bat approaching.
The Pallas’s long-tongued bat has found a clever way around the moths' sensitive hearing. Researchers were amazed to discover that these bats mostly prey on moths that would normally hear them coming. How do they do it? The Pallas’s long-tongued bat uses a subtler form of sonar that moths can't detect. Instead of the usual echolocation, they practice whisperlocation. It's like bat stealth, allowing them to silently swoop down on unsuspecting moths. Studies of another whispering bat species, the barbastelle, showed that its vocalizations were 100 times quieter than those of other bats.
