X

Echolocation

Bats have many special adaptations to their environment and the most interesting is echolocation. This is a way that bats can orient themselves to their surroundings, detect obstacles, communicate with others and find food. A series of short, high-pitched sounds are emitted by the bat. The sound travels out and bounces off objects and surfaces in the bat’s path creating an echo. The echo returns to the bat giving it a sense of what is in its path. A bat can determine the object's size, shape, direction, distance and motion. This echolocation system is very accurate, so much so that bats can detect insects the size of gnats or objects as fine as a human hair.