New study investigates spatial orientation in bats
Zooming in for a safe flight
Bats do not use sight to navigate when flying. Instead, they
emit ultrasound pulses and measure the echoes reflected from their
surroundings. They have an extremely flexible internal navigation system that
enables them to do this. A new study published in Nature Communications shows
that when a bat flies close to an object, the number of active neurons in the
part of a bat’s brain responsible for processing acoustic information about
spatial positioning increases. This information helps these masters of flight
to react rapidly and avoid obstacles.