News in Brief Animals

Bats jam each other in echolocation battles for food

Blaring a special call at just the right instant ruins another’s sonar-guided swoop

Mexican free-tailed bat

SABOTAGE  Mexican free-tailed bats fight sonar wars, jamming each other’s echolocation signals in competitions to snatch moths out of the night sky.

Nickolay Hristov

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

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Mexican free-tailed bats make short waaoowaaoo sounds that sabotage each other’s sonar-guided aim in duels over the right to gulp a flying moth out of the night sky.