How do bats navigate and find their prey?

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There are two differen which are done seperately b

nt ways bats navigate, by two types of bat groups.

There are the PTEROPODIDAE (otherwise known as Mega Bats) which use their vision to navigate and find food.

Then there are the MICROCHIROPTERA (otherwise known as Micro Bats) which use echolocation to navigate and hunt their prey.

They then listern for the returning echos to determine where objects are, from this they can create an image of their surroundings.

Echolocation is the process in which a bat emits utlrasonic calls.

We don’t tend to hear thes range of frequencies higher detec

A bats call can range between frequencies of 20,000Hz and 160,000 Hz.

se sounds as bats use a r than what a human can ct.

A Human can hear over a range of frequencies from 20Hz to 20,000Hz.

Sometimes they have to change the frequency of their calls so they can help detect between moving prey and stationary objects.

This is called Do

oppler Shift .

By emiting, series of ultra sonic sounds that either sweep from a high to a low frequency, bats can further distinguish between moving prey.

Bats can sense the direction by the height of the f compared to the so

If the prey is going away from the bat, the frequency of the echo is lower than the sound the bat emits.

n that their prey is going in frequency the echo is ound the bat emits.

If the prey is coming towards the bat, the frequency of the echo is higher than the sound the bat emits.

Using echolocation, bats can prey by changing the w

They then have to make the wavelength

smaller so the sound reflects when it reaches the prey.

n determine the size of their wavelength of their call.

If the wavelength of the call is larger than the size of the prey, the call can pass through them without returning any echos.

As the bat emits sound, it reflects off the prey, the bat can hear the echo’s back and can determine how far away the prey is. The closer the bat gets, the more sounds are emitted until the bat can detect the preys every movement, the sound merges into what is called a

‘feeding buzz’.

By Katie Wear and Amber Currithers