2019-08-15 01:10:14

As reported by [arstechnica]:

While well known as the acoustic nocturnal hunters that they are, the subtleties of how each kind of bat navigates and hunts their prey is a seemingly endless source of facinating possibilities. For example, the Leaf Nosed bat exploits a kind of "acoustic mirror" effect, so if it approaches its prey on a leaf from the optimal angle the keaf acts as a mirror, reflecting sound away from the source and allowing the bat to orient itself.

Then there's the Pallid bat, which has two echolocation modes, active echolocation for navigation, and passive echolocation for hunting. It also has two pairs of ears, one internal and the other external to better pick up any noise insects make. But what about insects that don't make noise, like dragonflies? As it turns out the Leaf Nosed bats acoustic mirror method is ideal for picking up those slumbering dragon flies as they rest on leaves, allowing them to orient and track their prey by the reflections of sound as their dispersed around their prey, effectively catching them by the shadow they leave behind.

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2019-08-15 12:52:11

It makes it sound so complex and scifi/fantasy superhero mcawesome, when you could swap out "sound" with "light" and "ears" with "light receptors" (people don't have extra internal eyes, afaik, but cones / rods / etc are specialized for different aspects, eye movements play a part, eye size, shape, spacing, angles, etc), and you're describing normal vision.
The precision to use individual leaves that way is impressive, but that's somewhat offset by the fact that insect-eating bats are pretty small. If a leaf is the comparable size of large furniture, then the main difference between leaves and my garbage can is that leaves are way more aesthetically pleasing. ... And abundant.
Nevertheless, bats could still utterly destroy me in an echolocation battle, even compensating for the size / environment differences, so eh. There is no excuse for getting lost in my own yard when the road, the building, the trees, and that little hill with the storm-cellar I'd be too afraid of squatting fanged things to use under it are all right there and unmoving. Maybe it'd be easier if I was a foot or two shorter? cause it feels like it would be, but maybe height advantage works with echolocation just as it does visually; I'm not sure why it wouldn't, unless there's a serious range limitation that makes the added distance cost more than can be gained from height. hmm

看過來!
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2019-08-15 17:54:41

Wow, this is terrifying, bats are some of the craziest animals. They know exactly what, where, when, why, and how you are at all times.

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