When echolocating bats do not echolocate.
Echolocating bats are known to continuously generate high frequency sonar pulses and listen to the reflecting echoes to localize objects and orient in the environment. However, silent behavior has been reported in a recent paper, which demonstrated that the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) can fly a relative long distant (0.6 to 8 m) without echolocating when flying with another conspecific in a large flight room.1 Methodology and conclusion developed in this study have the potential for further experimental design to answer the question of how millions of bats navigate and orient in cohesive groups. In addition, the discovery of silent behavior suggests the possible use of cooperative sonar in echolocating animals.
Chiu
Chen
C
Department of Psychology; Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program; University of Maryland; College Park, Maryland USA.
Moss
Cynthia F
CF
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Sep 2;105(35):13116-21
18725624
Proc Biol Sci. 2004 Jul 22;271(1547):1467-75
15306318
Biol Lett. 2006 Mar 22;2(1):5-7
17148311
J Acoust Soc Am. 2007 Mar;121(3):1749-57
17407911
J Acoust Soc Am. 2002 Nov;112(5 Pt 1):1753-5
12430789
J Exp Biol. 2008 Jan;211(Pt 1):106-13
18083738
Curr Biol. 2008 Jan 8;18(1):R34-5
18177712