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Grades 3–5 · Organisms

How can a bat hear where an insect is?

A hunting bat can find a small insect in darkness using sound. It sends out a call, and some of that sound meets the insect. A little sound reflects back toward the bat. This returning sound is an echo.

O40 visual explanationThe stationary insect is 2 diagram distance units away; the out-and-back sound journey is 4 units. Under unchanged conditions its echo has a middle relative delay. Units are schematic, not measured bat hearing thresholds.An echo carries information back▸ BatInsectOutgoing callReturning echo2 outward + 2 back = 4 path unitsThe bat sends its own sound call.

In the diagramAn echo carries information back▸ BatInsectOutgoing callReturning echo2 outward + 2 back = 4 path unitsThe bat sends its own sound call.

The call travels toward the insect and the reflected sound returns to the bat. The two arrows show the outward and return parts of one echo journey.

The bat receives the echo with its ears. Using its own outgoing call and the returning echo is called echolocation. Many of these calls are ultrasound, meaning their pitch is above the range people normally hear.

The echo does not return at once because sound takes time to travel. It goes from the bat to the insect and then back again. For the same conditions, a more distant insect gives sound a longer journey, so its echo returns later.

Bats process more than delay: their changing calls and echoes can carry other information about surroundings and prey. Echolocation does not mean that bats are blind, and different bat species use sound in different ways.

About this explanation

Starting knowledge: Understands that sound can reflect and that a longer journey can take longer.

Sources

  • U.S. National Park Service — Echolocation
  • U.S. National Park Service — Bats: Grand Canyon National Park
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