1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:09,720 Speaker 1: I'm Lauren vogel Bomb. In today's episode is another classic 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:12,400 Speaker 1: from our archives. In this one, we get into the 4 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:17,279 Speaker 1: lifestyle of bats. Some of these animals find prey using sonar, 5 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:20,799 Speaker 1: which god us wondering whether they can jam each other's 6 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:27,000 Speaker 1: sonar and save more treats for themselves. Hey there, brain Stuff, 7 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:30,040 Speaker 1: Lauren vogel Bomb here. All creatures living in the wild 8 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:32,320 Speaker 1: will try to gain an advantage when it comes to 9 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 1: finding their next meal. Some animals will use their size, 10 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:38,000 Speaker 1: big or small, while others rely on speed or the 11 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:40,919 Speaker 1: ability to make a threatening sound. But the bat has 12 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:43,840 Speaker 1: a different kind of trick up its sleeve or wing 13 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:48,239 Speaker 1: signal jamming. That's are nocturnal hunting mainly in the darkness 14 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 1: of night. They eat prey that's tiny and quiet, like 15 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:53,600 Speaker 1: moths and other insects, which can be difficult to find 16 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: in low light and darkness. Although the expression blind is 17 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,639 Speaker 1: a bat is widely used, bats are not blind. They 18 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: just do use a means of locating these tiny tidbits 19 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: of dinner other than site. When it's time to find food, 20 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 1: bats emit a series of high pitched sounds into the 21 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:11,119 Speaker 1: darkness that bounce back when they hit an object. When 22 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: a bat hears the echoing sound, it knows an object 23 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:16,040 Speaker 1: is nearby, and it flies closer to the source of 24 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:18,600 Speaker 1: the echo to send out more signals. As the echo 25 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:21,919 Speaker 1: back sound increases in intensity, the bat knows it's getting 26 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,119 Speaker 1: closer to the prey, and it keeps up this echolocation 27 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,680 Speaker 1: until it can swoop in for the kill. While primarily 28 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: using sonar to find food, it turns out the bats 29 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: can also use their sonar in a hostile and competitive way. 30 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: Wake Forest University researcher William Connor and his University of 31 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:42,160 Speaker 1: Maryland colleague Aaron Corcoran used audio and video systems to 32 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,400 Speaker 1: observe the behavior of Mexican freetailed bats as they hunted 33 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 1: for tiger moths, a favorite snack, but favorite snack of 34 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: the bats, not the researchers. They found that the bats 35 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 1: admitted a specific sound that was successful in interfering with 36 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: the sonar of other prey seeking bats of the same species. 37 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: They called this process sweep jamming. The study concludes that 38 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:04,640 Speaker 1: bats admit this sound intentionally to interfere with the sonar 39 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:09,120 Speaker 1: of food seeking competitors. When the researchers played back recordings 40 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,040 Speaker 1: of this jamming sound to other bats in search of insects. 41 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:14,960 Speaker 1: Those bats were also thrown off track. The sound made 42 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,639 Speaker 1: the bats eighty six percent more likely to miss their 43 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: prey target. The scientists experimented with other sounds, like white noise, 44 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:24,920 Speaker 1: but those did not interfere with the bats sonar. In 45 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 1: the natural world, sonar and echolocation aren't exclusive to bats. 46 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:31,520 Speaker 1: Mammals such as dolphins and other toothed whales also use 47 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: it to find their way, and humans too have adapted 48 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:37,679 Speaker 1: technology to mimic this process. Ships regularly use sonar to 49 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: help them navigate and to explore what's in the water 50 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 1: under and around them. Sonar can indicate the presence of 51 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:46,639 Speaker 1: another ship, a dangerous obstacle, or aquatic life. In warfare, 52 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:48,840 Speaker 1: sonar can be life saving, cluing a ship in about 53 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 1: the presence of a hostile submarine or an enemy torpedo. 54 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:54,640 Speaker 1: Technology can even jam the sonar of other ships, just 55 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:57,919 Speaker 1: like bats. There's no evidence yet that other animals that 56 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 1: use echolocation for hunting employ signal jamming, but beats seemed 57 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 1: to have perfected the process of jamming one another signals 58 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: all in the search for a better meal. Today's episode 59 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 1: was written by Debbie Sponson and produced by Tristan McNeil 60 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: and Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of 61 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: other not so baddy topics, is it how Stuff Works 62 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:21,519 Speaker 1: dot Com bring stuff this production of iHeart Radio. For 63 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, 64 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:27,040 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.