Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Baby bats try out their ‘sonar’ just after birth

Fruit-bat pups can send short echolocation clicks — and sense those of others — from day zero.
Egyptian fruit bats

A young Egyptian fruit bat’s navigation clicks sound like those of an adult by the time the pup is 7–8 weeks old, the age of first flight. Credit: Philippe Clement/Nature Picture Library

Move over, early bloomers: baby bats might be the most precocious younglings of the animal kingdom. Researchers have found that, from day zero, newborn Egyptian fruit bats can use the built-in sonar that allows the creatures to navigate in total darkness1.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 599, 11 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02940-6

References

  1. Smarsh, G. C., Tarnovsky, Y. & Yovel, Y. Proc. R. Soc. B https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1714 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links