Slicing through the shadows…
Scanning for prey hidden under a cloak of darkness...
Bats are masters of the night sky, thanks to their twin superpowers: flight and echolocation,
using sound waves to find prey.
So, what the heck is this one doing…
It’s hunting on the ground - and not flying.
Kind of an undignified way to catch a meal, isn’t it, I mean for a bat?
Turns out echolocation -- that natural sonar bats use -- isn’t the killer technique you’d
think.
Like, it’s not actually that SNEAKY.
We can’t hear the frequency that bats put out, but to a moth, it’s louder than a scream...more
like a jet taking off.
It’s kind of a dead giveaway.
And some prey have found ways to fight back.
This tiger moth has loaded up on a diet of toxic plants that make him disgusting to eat.
A fact he broadcasts with warning clicks from an organ called a tymbal, the same one cicadas
use to sing.
Bats learn as pups to stay away.
And these hawk moths can scramble bat sonar by emitting clicks from their genitals.
It’s a dogfight...that bats are starting to lose.
That’s why some, like this pallid bat, are changing the game.
She still echolocates, but only to navigate.
And she keeps the volume low.
She’s a whispering bat.
When it’s time to hunt, she goes into stealth mode…
Her ears point down, where scorpions and crickets are milling in the loose earth, and she listens...
Look at those ears again...
They’re huge, relative to her tiny skull...
They do a great job of capturing and amplifying sound, especially the low-pitched noises of
scurrying prey.
And see that funny flap?
It’s called the tragus.
They provide extra information about where a sound is coming from.
We have them too, but in a bat they’re way bigger.
And the bat has a final card to play here...she’s immune to scorpion venom, but the sting rattles
her a little.
It’s not as graceful as the high-flying aerobatics – but hey, it works.
A lot of people really don’t like bats.
But they do us a favor by eating tons of mosquitoes.
Watch our video about how mosquitoes use the six separate to suck your blood.
And speaking of blood suckers, if you do like bats, watch this video about vampire bats
from our friends at NPR Skunk Bear.
And thanks for watching Deep Look.