3 ms·

Isn’t what we always thought? “The model revealed that bats tend to fly near environmental features with higher "echoic entropy"—areas that provide richer acou

Isn’t what we always thought? “The model revealed that bats tend to fly near environmental features with higher "echoic entropy"—areas that provide richer acoustic information.” So, they recognize the sound of key reference points. This all seems rather intuitive and unremarkable?

bbor 2y ago
Yeah it’s intuitive, but it’s the first confirmation of such a thing! Yay, science. They discuss the previously-plausible theory that echolocation provided local momentary info only, and didn’t translate into long term spatial memories. A subtle distinction perhaps, but an important one if we want to get closer to knowing What It’s Like To Be A Bat. Reading it brought me joy for no other reason than imagining researchers strapping blindfolds and nose plugs to “tiny” bats. Thank you for your service, bats
sva_ 2y ago
I think it was known that echolocation is used for 'collision detection' and finding food, but not necessarily that bats could navigate long distances using echolocation alone. The editor's summary of the article is more clear imo: > Insectivorous bats are well known to use echolocation to catch prey and navigate around obstacles. It has also been shown that more visually guided fruit bats have spatial cognitive maps of their environment. Goldshtein et al. placed minuscule GPS trackers on tiny pipistrelle bats in conjunction with temporary blocks of vision and olfaction. The authors found that the bats could still navigate across kilometer scales using only echolocation. Thus, echolocation may not only allow for local navigation, but might also translate into an acoustic cognitive map of the environment that the animals can use to navigate over long distances. —Sacha Vignieri https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adn6269 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adn6269
- guappa 2y ago
  Well they do get home!
sitkack 2y ago
That is how research works, and most often, it also finds interesting results in knowledge, future questions or new experimental techniques. I just discovered a stand of trees in a park near me that has a rich acoustic texture, if you clap your hands, the returned echo consists of multiple overlapping time shifted echos. Step 3m in either direction laterally and you can perceive the same echo but at an angle. Could make a really cool art+science installation where you could induce audio vertigo. Like https://garyhill.com/work/mixed_media_installation/tall-ships.html https://garyhill.com/work/mixed_media_installation/tall-ship...

bbor 2y ago

Yeah it’s intuitive, but it’s the first confirmation of such a thing! Yay, science. They discuss the previously-plausible theory that echolocation provided local momentary info only, and didn’t translate into long term spatial memories. A subtle distinction perhaps, but an important one if we want to get closer to knowing What It’s Like To Be A Bat. Reading it brought me joy for no other reason than imagining researchers strapping blindfolds and nose plugs to “tiny” bats. Thank you for your service, bats

sva_ 2y ago

I think it was known that echolocation is used for 'collision detection' and finding food, but not necessarily that bats could navigate long distances using echolocation alone. The editor's summary of the article is more clear imo: > Insectivorous bats are well known to use echolocation to catch prey and navigate around obstacles. It has also been shown that more visually guided fruit bats have spatial cognitive maps of their environment. Goldshtein et al. placed minuscule GPS trackers on tiny pipistrelle bats in conjunction with temporary blocks of vision and olfaction. The authors found that the bats could still navigate across kilometer scales using only echolocation. Thus, echolocation may not only allow for local navigation, but might also translate into an acoustic cognitive map of the environment that the animals can use to navigate over long distances. —Sacha Vignieri https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adn6269 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adn6269

guappa 2y ago
Well they do get home!

sitkack 2y ago

That is how research works, and most often, it also finds interesting results in knowledge, future questions or new experimental techniques. I just discovered a stand of trees in a park near me that has a rich acoustic texture, if you clap your hands, the returned echo consists of multiple overlapping time shifted echos. Step 3m in either direction laterally and you can perceive the same echo but at an angle. Could make a really cool art+science installation where you could induce audio vertigo. Like https://garyhill.com/work/mixed_media_installation/tall-ships.html https://garyhill.com/work/mixed_media_installation/tall-ship...