Can you walk in the pitch darkness of the night without the aid of a torch? Our eyes are made for light and day. Therefore, darkness presents us with uncertainty and fear. However, being nocturnal animals, bats prefer to be active in darkness. While they rest and sleep during day, bats venture out to find their food in the night. To help them find their prey in the dark, most bat species have developed a remarkable navigation system called echolocation. Echolocation works in a very interesting manner.
When bats are out hunting, they make high-pitched sounds. These sounds are so high-pitched that we cannot hear them. When these sounds strike a solid object, they bounce back as echoes. The bat’s ears pick up the echoes. By determining how long the noise takes to return, the bat’s brain figures out how far away an object is. The bat can also determine from the echo where the object is, how big it is and in what direction it is moving. This remarkable ability enables them to move about in the darkness without any trouble.
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