Researchers from the University of Tel Aviv describe this effect as "opening a bag of chips in the cinema." Previous findings on the type víkonos Asian, but it is assumed that this mechanism adopted and others bat.
"It's like when you're sitting in a darkened movie theater and suddenly someone zašustí bag of potato chips," says Yossi Yovel, chiropterolog of TAU. "While it is dark all around, not only by the sound of it you will know what is happening, but also very accurately determine where in the room probably sitting sweet tooth. "And bats are similar. Víkonos Asian, like other members of his family echolokačním features a sensitive apparatus with which identifies and focuses flying insects to the millimeter. Unfortunately, this guidance system works only within a limited distance, about ten meters.
Luckily víkonos and excellent hearing, through which identifies up to a distance of one hundred meters, the other near the bat hit the prey, and then head to him. Given the behavior of their most common food that is understandable. Most popular delicacy are these bats ant queens. They are indeed on their own site swarming numerous, but these sites are separated by a distance often enough. Separately fishing bat could so easily could miss his dream, which will avoid when listening in their kinsmen.
Yovel and colleagues figured it out when he looked at the effect of echolocation mechanisms in the field. Odchytané bats called GPS transmitter and a small device to record the ultrasonic signal. "Because we were able to observe in detail on the record when the bat hunts or when somehow interacts with other individuals."
While this method has brought a unique perspective on the social life of bats and their hunting techniques that other animals would not be technically feasible, but the actual data acquisition was not easy.
"The transmitters fell off the bat after about one week, and we had to field dohledávat," says Yovel. "We managed to find only about 40% of transmitters." There was then a long evaluation of data from a total of 1100 recorded interactions between fishing for bats but it was obvious that víkonosi "work in team", and their sonar overlap propátrávaný perfect habitat as search radar system.
Video showing the behavior of bats in the hunt. Video: Jens Rydell
Author: Radomír Dohnal
Source: Ekolist.cz
