How does a bat find its way even though they are blind?

Answer 1

Echolocation, also called Biosonar, is the biological sonar used by several mammals such as bats, dolphins and whales. The term was coined by Donald Griffin, who was the first to conclusively demonstrate its existence in bats. Two bird groups also employ this system for navigating through caves, the so called Cave Swiftlets in the genus Aerodramus (formerly Collocalia) and the unrelated Oilbird Steatornis caripensis.

Animals that use echolocation emit calls out to the environment. They listen to the echoes that return from various objects in the environment. They use these echoes to locate, range and identify the objects. Echolocation is used for navigation and for foraging (or hunting) in various environments.

Basic Principle
Echolocation works somewhat like a sonar made by an animal. Ranging is most certainly done by measuring the time delay between the animal's own vocalization and any echoes that return from the environment. Unlike some sonar which relies on an extremely narrow beam to localize a target, animal echolocation relies on multiple receivers, the two ears, to perform localization. In sonar when a target is detected the narrow beam is oscillated around the target direction to maximize the echo return. The direction of maximum echo return is the target direction. Echolocating animals have two ears positioned slightly apart. The echoes returning to the two ears arrive at different times and at different loudness levels, depending on the position of the object generating the echoes. The time and/or loudness differences are used by the animals to deduce direction.

Echolocating Bats
Bats are the most famous examples for echolocation among animals. All microbats use echolocation. The only megabat which is known to echolocate is the genus Rousettus, which uses a different method of echolocation than that used by microbats. Lazzaro Spallanzani performed a series of experiments on bats in 1794 and concluded that they navigated by their sense of hearing, although the scientific community rejected these findings. The ultrasound echolocation used by bats was first described by zoologist Donald Griffin in 1938.

Microbats use echolocation to navigate and forage, often in total darkness. They generally emerge from their roosts in caves or attics at dusk and forage for insects into the night. Their use of echolocation allows them to occupy a niche where there are often many insects (that come out at night since there are less predators then) and where there is less competition for food, and where there are fewer other species that may prey on the bats themselves.

Microbats generate ultrasound via the larynx and emit the sound through the nose or - much more commonly - the open mouth. Microbat calls (help·info) range in frequency from 14,000 to 100,000 Hz, mostly beyond the range of the human ear (typical human hearing range is considered to be from 20Hz to 20,000 Hz). The emitted vocalizations form a relatively broad beam of sound that is used to probe the environment.

Since the 1970s there has been an ongoing controversy among researchers as to whether bats use a form of processing known from radar termed coherent cross-correlation. Coherence means that the phase of the echolocation signals is used by the bats, cross-correlation just implies that the outgoing signal is compared with the returning echoes in a running process. Today most - but not all - researchers believe that they use cross-correlation, but in an incoherent form, termed a filter bank receiver.

When searching for prey they produce sounds at a low rate (10-20/sec). During the search phase the sound emission is coupled to respiration, which is again coupled to the wingbeat. It is speculated that this coupling conserves energy. After detecting a potential prey item, microbats increase the rate of pulses, ending with the terminal buzz, at rates as high as 200/sec. During approach to a detected target, the duration of the sounds is gradually decreasing, as is the energy of the sound.

Answer 2

Echolocation is a sonar system that enables animals and humans locate objects with the help of sound. Dolphins and bats are best known mammals that use echolocation for hunting preys. Bats are nocturnal mammals that roost in dark quiet places during the day. Their foot pads act like suction cups against the walls. There are lots of species of bat, with their wingspans ranging in size from six inches to five foot.



Like many other nocturnal animals, few species of bats have well developed eyes. Most other species use sound rather than sight to navigate at night. Echolocation helps them avoid obstacles and locate food. Sounds emitted by insect eating bats bounce off objects they hit. A bat can tell from the echo where and what the object is. Insects may be taken in half a second. Issued at the rate of up to 200 a second, high pitched sounds that are beyond the range of human hearing are come from the bat’s head. Those that strike flying insects, fruits or other targets bounce back to the bat, whose brain analyzes the echoes. From the echoes, bats determine what and where the object is. Echolocation thus works in a flash of a second. A bat can find an insect, chase it and eat it in half a second.

Answer 3

It really depends on the species of bat, some have quite good eyesight and not all use 'echolocation' which is a massive simplification of the actual technique they use. And another strange thing is how does one bat, out of several thousand, recognize its own echo through the noise of all the others? The answer is very clever and I use the human version every day to map geological structures in our never ending search for oil. Each has its own unique ‘signature’ or frequency sweep which it can differentiate from all the noise generated by its counterparts (other animals use this as well). The human version is called vibroseis and we ‘discovered’ it about 50 or so years ago, bats have been using it for millions …. but they are not interested in finding oil, and they cant write technical papers.

Answer 4

Bats are mammals in the Order Chiroptera (Greek = "hand-wing") and are the only mammals that truly fly. They are able to fly because of ecolocation.

Even though vision may be less important than other senses bats can still see. Insectivorous bats use an acoustic orientation called echolocation to find and catch their prey. They emit a series of supersonic cries through the mouth or nose and detect flying insects by the echoes that bounce back to them. Bats also emit other sounds possibly to communicate or to indicate emotion to each other.

Answer 5

Eco location. The bat makes a noise that bounces off any objects in its path and when the sound returns to the bats ears they know where things are located ahead of them.

Also most bats aren't really blind. Their vision is very poor but they do have it.

Answer 6

Bats are not blind. I'm not sure where "blind as a bat" came from, but they can see quite nicely. For short-range things most bats use echolocation.

Answer 7

Bats are unique in the animal kingdom because they are the only mammals to have evolved true flight. Most species also possess a system of acoustic orientation, often called "bat radar," but technically known as echolocation.

Answer 8

Bats are not blind. They use echo location to find their way in dark caves. They bounce high pitched sound waves off the walls and hear where they are.

Answer 9

Bats are not blind !!! For the thirty thousandth time---they just have poor eyesight from long long periods in extremely dark surroundings---but they can see---have eyes and optical nerves--the whole nine yards
They use a series of ultra high frequency sounds issued orally as sonic output and their exceptional hearing picks up the reflected waves coming back from objects these sound waves bounce off of---and they "read" these reflected wave to create a mental image at lightning fast speed ---to keep them in superb control of their navigations

Answer 10

Seeing eye dogs.