Date: November 10, 2017
Source: Lund University
Summary:
Researchers have compared how
much energy bats use when flying, depending on whether they have large or small
ears.
Large ears increase air
resistance, meaning that long-eared bats are forced to expend more energy than
species with small ears. On the plus side, large ears generate more lift and
provide better hearing.
Good hearing is a prerequisite
for bats' ability to echolocate, i.e. sense the echo of the sound waves they
emit in order to locate and home in on their prey.
The research results therefore
show that large ears have both pros and cons. Christoffer Johansson Westheim,
senior lecturer at Lund University, believes that evolution has made a
compromise.
"The crux is being able to
fly as efficiently as possible while also having optimal echolocation ability.
Bats can't be the best at both these things at the same time," he says.
The research findings also
support the hypothesis that birds migrate to a greater extent than bats, and
over longer distances, because bats' ears create resistance that makes flying
more energy-intensive.
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