Allentown's Best Bat Removal

What is Echolocation and How do Bats Use It?

Bats make sounds in the same way that people do, but they use their sounds for rather different purposes. Although a method of communication just like ours, bats also use sounds or, rather, the echo of those sounds, to figure things out — objects and structures around them, other animals, other bats, avoiding collisions, finding insects and other food items to eat, and even how to drink whilst in mid-flight. It's called echolocation, and it's actually very similar to what dolphins use underwater — sonar.

Bats are nocturnal. They are fairly decent eyesight, predicted to be around the same kind of quality as our own, but they don't need it. They can't see in the dark just like we can't see in the dark, but with echolocation, they don't need their sense of sight.

Sounds are produced in the vocal chords, although there are a few species who use their nose. The pitch of these sounds are high — adults are not usually able to hear them, but children and pets can. The sounds are omitted and, when they hit something, they bounce back. It is that bounce-back echo that bats use to work out what is going on around them.

Using this system, bats can avoid flying into each other. If you've ever seen a colony of bats flying in and out of a building a couple of hours after sundown, you'll appreciate how well this system works. There are usually hundreds — sometimes even thousands of bats — flying around in the same small air space, and none of them ever collide. Echolocation prevents collisions.

Not just making sure the bat doesn't fly into other bats, echolocation also prevents bats from flying into buildings, into trees, and even into other animals. They use the process to find food in the same way — sending out sounds and waiting for the echo to come back, and they can also avoid becoming food in the same way. If the echo bounces back and warns the bat of a potential predator, the bat will change course to avoid being attacked.

The echo itself tells the bat a lot. It will know not only how far away the structure/tree/bat/other animal is, but also in which direction it is travelling if it is travelling, how fast it is travelling, how big the animal or structure is, whether the bat can eat it or will be in danger, whether it will eat the bat, and more.