We probably learned about bats’ use of echo-location to fly and feed in our early days at school. But no one has yet explained to me how a bat distinguishes between its own calls and those of the other members of the colony, which must be going on at the same time. It must be bedlam up there. I wonder if they argue?
John Robinson, a licensed bat operator illustrates how you can identify which bats are which without, alas, addressing how they avoid signal chaos. I wish somebody could tell me…
This website has an idea
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2686009/
Thanks, Femke. I felt someone, somewhere, must have been looking into it.
However the researchers clearly have a long way to go; 1 million bats emerging from a roost piggy-backing on the calls of others, by switching off, is still 500,000 calls to be sorted out.
A lot more research needed, I would say. As a bat might comment: “Watch this space.”
Mike