Blindfolded bats teach scientists about echolocation

(CN) — Bats might not lead the most exciting lives, but they do have one real-life superpower that aids in their evening hunts for insect dinners: echolocation.

In a new study published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, scientists took a deeper look into bio sonar and discovered that bats use the incredible ability to construct detailed mental maps in order to navigate long distances.

Up to this point, little has been known about how bats rely on echolocation, aside from the basic knowledge that bats utilize it to catch prey and avoid obstacles in flight, and a few studies suggesting bats travel using navigation strategies such as following a singular route. But at face-value, bio-sonar doesn’t seem incredibly useful — while an incredible feat by nature — it only provides short range information, maxing out at a few dozen meters, according to the study. This statistic is nothing in comparison to senses like vision, which enables humans to see nearly five kilometers away on a clear day.

Curious whether bats rely on echolocation alone to navigate long distances, scientist Aya Goldshtein of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior set out alongside her colleagues to track the visually impaired flying mammals.

First, the Israel-based team caught 76 Kuhl’s pipistrelle bats and tagged them using novel miniature GPS trackers. They then relocated the fluffy six-gram creatures, letting them go at different points three kilometers away from their home roosts.

The catch? When released, a significant portion of the bats were either totally blindfolded or otherwise deprived of senses like scent, meaning they’d have to get home relying on echolocation alone.

It was likely a daunting undertaking for the little beasts, who’d spent the majority of their lives sleeping, breeding and midnight-snacking near northern Israel’s Agamon Lake. But, determined, the bats continued on, in search of their roosts without the help of their eyesight.

And get home they did. Ninety-five percent of the bats, and all of the blindfolded ones, made it back within the first night.

There wasn’t even a significant difference between the returning flight paths of the bats that were visually impaired and the ones that weren’t, showing that their echolocation skills prove more useful than previously thought as they help the bats develop ‘mental acoustic maps.’ Interestingly enough, the bats initially flew in a meandering pattern, according to the study, “likely to gather acoustic information from their surroundings before transitioning to a direct flight toward their destination.”

Upon reaching their home, both the sighted and blindfolded bats couldn’t immediately sense where their roosts were, suggesting that bats do rely on their poor vision to a certain extent, even if just to orient themselves. However, this study proves that bats rely on echolocation as their primary form of navigation, and can use bio sonar alone to travel for at least three kilometers.

Research like that of Goldshtein’s team helps scientists further understand the complex mechanics and real-life applications of echolocation, which is used not just by bats, but also by aquatic creatures like dolphins and whales.