Facts about bats

Bats

By Harin Kwon

 Bats are animals which communicate using echolocation. The bat makes high-pitched noises through its nose or mouth and listens for the reflected sound waves bouncing off objects or other animals. This shows that the bats are using supersonic waves as a communication method, which is also called echolocation. They make a high pitched sound that humans cannot hear. A bat’s hearing is not even affected by high-pitched frequencies that could cause hearing damage in people. This echolocation is like the natural form of sonar. Bats are the only animals who talk with echolocation to catch food and communicate with each other. Like a submarine’s sonar, it helps them to find their way without looking.

Bats sleep upside-down with no difficulty. Even though the blood goes up to bats’ heads, they have very much smaller proportionality than the gravity pulling. This is one reason that bats can stay upside down easily. Most of them are no more than 8 grams, which is so light that gravity does not have as much effect on them as it would on larger animals. Bat’s special tendons lock the toes and talons in place, so they do not exert energy while hanging. Once their toes and legs are locked in place, their body weight and gravity keep them hanging. By using these tendons, bats have no problems with falling down. Sleeping up in the air means they do not have to worry about being attacked by predators. This is one of the adaptations which help bats survive.

  Bats jam each other’s sonar to catch the best prey. Bat’s instincts of hunting at night made them compete with each other using echolocation to catch food. Their technique of fooling others is called jamming. As it was said before, jamming requires echolocation. The bat’s sight is bad, so instead they only sustain themselves using their hearing. People did an experiment about bat’s jamming, and they found that the clicks overlap with the echoes of the bats’ own calls, muddying up their ability to gauge their distance from their prey. They know roughly where the moths are, but they can’t coordinate a precise strike. Not only can bats do jamming, some of their prey species have adapted to do it, too. Therefore usually, only 1 out of 5 moths are caught by bats. It is hard for them to catch a one moth, so living in a group and hunting together will have a lots of benefits. This shows why bats live in a group.

In conclusion, bats survive by using echolocation, their legs, and jamming the echolocation signals of rivals. Talking with echolocation fills the gap where bad sight makes it hard to live. Also, by having strong, locking tendons, they become much safer in the cave from predators on the ground. Even though bats can’t catch enough prey working alone, their teamwork helps them a lot. Therefore, bats are an interesting animal that should be more protected by humans.