Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture Money Videos

Bats: Roosting, hunting, and echolocation

Bats: Roosting, hunting, and echolocation
Bats: Roosting, hunting, and echolocation
A colony of bats leaves their roost at twilight to feed on insects.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
  • Bats: Roosting, hunting, and echolocation
    Bats: Roosting, hunting, and echolocation
  • Learn how dolphins use echolocation to detect any object
    Learn how dolphins use echolocation to detect any object
  • Why being “blind as a bat” is a myth
    Why being “blind as a bat” is a myth
  • Learn if we should be afraid of bats with a bat expert
    Learn if we should be afraid of bats with a bat expert
  • Marvel at the H-4 Hercules flying boat, the flying foxes of genus Pteropus, and the giraffe-sized pterosaur
    Marvel at the H-4 Hercules flying boat, the flying foxes of genus Pteropus, and the giraffe-sized pterosaur
  • See a Selenops arboreal hunting spider's unique ability to glide and steer
    See a Selenops arboreal hunting spider's unique ability to glide and steer
  • Examine how Falco peregrinus uses controlled falls and outstretched talons to prey on pigeons and ducks
    Examine how Falco peregrinus uses controlled falls and outstretched talons to prey on pigeons and ducks
  • See a golden eagle take flight from its nest to swoop down on rabbit prey
    See a golden eagle take flight from its nest to swoop down on rabbit prey
Related Articles: animal behaviour , bat , echolocation , flight

Transcript

NARRATOR: Bats generally live in groups or colonies, roosting during the day in isolated places such as dark caves, cliff crevices, and abandoned buildings. It is at night that bats leave their roosts to forage. Most bats feed on insects, chasing down and capturing large quantities of their prey in flight. Bats are the only mammals that can truly fly.

Most species of bats possess the ability to orient acoustically by echolocation. They emit short high-frequency sound pulses that are reflected from objects in vicinity. The returning echoes are picked up by the bats' highly sensitive ears and are used to locate prey and avoid obstacles in the dark.