Abstract
Bats use a kind of biological sonar, called echolocation, for perception of objects in the environment. They belong to the mammalian order Chiroptera (“wing-handed”), and echolocating bats comprise the suborder Microchiroptera (“little” bats), which contains about 700 living species. About 550 of these species are insectivorous, capturing their prey in flight or on such surfaces as vegetation and the ground. About 150 other species have more diverse habits, feeding on small mammals, birds, frogs, lizards, fish, the blood of larger animals, or on fruit and pollen-and-nectar. Insectivorous bats generally use their sonar to detect, identify and track their prey to a successful capture, and they use it also for such tasks as avoiding obstacles to flight. To some extent insectivorous bats probably also hear the sounds made by their prey. Bats with other habits probably use a mixture of sonar, passive hearing, vision, and olfaction to find food (Griffin, 1958; Novick, 1977; Schnitzler and Henson, 1980).
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Simmons, J.A., Kick, S.A., Lawrence, B.D. (1983). Localization with Biosonar Signals in Bats. In: Ewert, JP., Capranica, R.R., Ingle, D.J. (eds) Advances in Vertebrate Neuroethology. NATO Advanced Science Institutes Series, vol 56. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4412-4_11
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