How Baby Bats Learn To Eavesdrop On Dinner
14 min•14 maj 2025
Most bats use echolocation to navigate and hunt, but some use their ears for another trick: eavesdropping.
"And then these frog-eating bats, for example, they are actually listening in on the mating calls of frogs that are much, much lower in frequency," says behavioral ecologist Rachel Page.
But how the bats knew this eavesdropping trick was a mystery. So she set up and experiment with baby bats and a speaker.
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"And then these frog-eating bats, for example, they are actually listening in on the mating calls of frogs that are much, much lower in frequency," says behavioral ecologist Rachel Page.
But how the bats knew this eavesdropping trick was a mystery. So she set up and experiment with baby bats and a speaker.
Have a question about the animals all around us? Email us at [email protected] — we'd love to hear from you!
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
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