How do bats find insects in total darkness?
Sound-Sight Hunters
How do bats find insects in total darkness?
It's midnight in the forest. No moon, no stars, just blackness so thick you can't see your hand in front of your face. And yet, somewhere above, a bat is hunting. It swoops, it dives, it snatches a mosquito out of the air — in total darkness. How?
Here's the secret: the bat doesn't use its eyes. It uses sound. Not just any sound — a special kind of scream. The bat opens its mouth and shouts. These shouts are so high-pitched that human ears can't hear them at all. They're called ultrasonic calls. Think of them like invisible flashlight beams made of sound, shooting out into the darkness.
