Acoustic scanning of natural scenes by echolocation in the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus.

ABSTRACT: Echolocation allows bats to orient and localize prey in complete darkness. The sonar beam of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus, is directional but broad enough to provide audible echo information from within a 60-90 deg. cone. This suggests that the big brown bat could interrogate a natural scene without fixating each important object separately. We tested this idea by measuring the directional aim and duration of the bat's sonar beam as it performed in a dual task, obstacle avoidance and insect capture. Bats were trained to fly through one of two openings in a fine net to take a tethered insect at variable distances behind the net. The bats sequentially scanned the edges of the net opening and the prey by centering the axis of their sonar beam with an accuracy of approximately 5 deg. Th

SUBMITTER: Surlykke A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2726860 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature