Bats aim their sound where they are about to fly, not just where they are
Two kinds of fruit bat pointed their echolocation calls toward a coming turn before they actually turned. The direction of their sound predicted the next change in flight path about 70 to 77 percent of the time.
Why it matters
Bats find their way in the dark using echolocation, which means sending out sound and listening to the echoes. This study shows they do not just check where they are now. They point their sound ahead, like glancing toward a corner before you walk around it, to plan the path in front of them. Understanding how animals steer using sound could help engineers build robots and vehicles that sense and move through tight spaces. Because this is a study of bats, human senses and brains may work differently.
Who's behind it: Keegan E. Eveland and colleagues, Johns Hopkins University.
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