Echolocation by Insect-Eating Bats

Bats (order Chiroptera) are ecologically more diverse than any other group of mammals. Numerous morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations of sensory and motor systems permit bats access to a wide range of habitats and resources at night. The more than 750 species of the suborder Microchiroptera occupy most terrestrial habitats and climatic zones and exploit a great variety of foods, ranging from insects and other arthropods, small vertebrates, and blood to fruit, leaves, nectar, flowers, and pollen. Echolocation is one of the adaptations that make bats so successful. Echolocating animals emit signals of high frequency (mostly ultrasonic) and analyze the returning echoes to detect, characterize, and localize the reflected objects. Sophisticated echolocation systems have evolved only in the bat suborder Microchiroptera and in dolphins. Less efficient systems have been reported for a few species of the bat suborder Megachiroptera and for some birds (Henson and Schnitzler 1980). Bats use echolocation for orientation in space, that is, for determining their position relative to the echo-producing environment. In addition, many bats, especially those that hunt for flying insects, use echolocation to detect, identify, and localize prey.