bat: Echolocation

Nearly all bats are nocturnal and many live in caves; although they see well, they rely primarily on their highly developed hearing, using echolocation (sonar) to avoid collisions and to capture insects in flight. The bat emits high-pitched sounds (up to 100,000 hertz) that echo from objects it encounters; the echo provides the bat with information about the size, shape, and distance of the object. The rate at which bats emit these squeaks is sometimes as high as 200 per second. Blinded bats easily find their way through complex obstacle courses, but deafness leaves them helpless.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Classification
• Types of Bats
• Echolocation
• Bat Flight
• Bibliography

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