Echolocating bats are known to fly and forage in complete darkness,
using the echoes of their actively emitted calls to navigate and to
detect prey. However, under dim light conditions many bats can also rely
on vision. Many flying animals have been shown to navigate by optic flow
information and, recently, bats were shown to exploit echoacoustic flow
to navigate through dark habitats. Here, we show for the bat
Phyllostomus discolor that, in lighted habitats where self-motioninduced
optic flow is strong, optic and echo-acoustic flow interact to guide
navigation. Echo-acoustic flow showed a surprisingly strong effect
compared with optic flow. We thus demonstrate multimodal interaction
between two far-ranging spatial senses, vision and echolocation,
available in this combination almost exclusively in bats and toothed
whales. Our results highlight the importance of merging information from
different sensory systems in a sensory-specialist animal to successfully
navigate and hunt under difficult conditions.
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Echolocating bats are known to fly and forage in complete darkness,
using the echoes of their actively emitted calls to navigate and to
detect prey. However, under dim light conditions many bats can also rely
on vision. Many flying animals have been shown to navigate by optic flow
information and, recently, bats were shown to exploit echoacoustic flow
to navigate through dark habitats. Here, we show for the bat
Phyllostomus discolor that, in lighted habitats where self-motioninduced
optic flow i...
»