Some elite hunting species can detect prey that is completely motionless
Date: September 1, 2015
Source: eLife
Summary: Scientists developed a new way to produce images from echolocation, uncovering a new set of cues available to bats and a new phenomenon of 'acoustic camouflage' available to prey.
The ability of some bats to spot motionless prey in the dark has baffled experts until now. By creating the first visual images from echolocation, researchers reveal we have been missing how bats sense their world.
Publishing in the journal eLife, scientists from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and the University of Bristol suggest that instead of searching for prey directly, bats intimately learn the layout of a home range -- down to the surface of individual leaves and stones. When one of these familiar leaves is covered by an insect, the normal echoes are interrupted and this "acoustic shadow" is a very strong signal to the hunting bat.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
You only need to enter your comment once! Comments will appear once they have been moderated. This is so as to stop the would-be comedian who has been spamming the comments here with inane and often offensive remarks. You know who you are!