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PETS & ANIMALS

True Facts: Bats, The Science of The Hunt

Ze Frank | December 11, 2025



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Credits:

MerlinTuttle.org – check out his incredible collection and make a donation for bat conservation!

Dr. Sharon Swartz
Dr. Kenny Breuer
Dr. Dan Riskin – FollowTheBatSignal.com
Dr. Gerald Carter
Dr. Inga Geipel
Dr. Logan James
Dr. Rachel Page
Dr Aaron Corcoran, sonarjamming.com
Dr Ken Welch
Dr Giulia Rossi
Dr. Andrea Rummel
Dr. Arie van der Meijden
Dr. Simon Ripperger
Dr. Cynthia Moss
Dr. Laura Stidsholt
Dr. Aya Goldshtein
Dr. Jesse Barber
Dr. Jinhong Luo
Dr Graeme Lowe

Citations:

Bechler et al. Feeding efficiency of two coexisting nectarivorous bat species at flowers of two key-resource plants. 10.1371/journal.pone.0303227

Bergou et al. Falling with Style: Bats Perform Complex Aerial Rotations by Adjusting Wing Inertia.10.1371/journal.pbio.1002297

Berrío-Martínez et al. The role of past experience in development of feeding behavior in common vampire bats. 10.7717/peerj.7448

Boerma & Swartz. Roosting ecology drives the evolution of diverse bat landing maneuvers. 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110381

Boerma et al, Wings as inertial appendages: how bats recover from aerial stumbles. doi.org/10.1242/jeb.204255

Boerma et al. Specialized landing maneuvers in Spix’s disk-winged bats 10.1242/jeb.204024

Carter et al. Food-sharing vampire bats are more nepotistic under conditions of perceived risk, doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arx006

Carter et al, Antiphonal calling allows individual discrimination in white-winged vampire bats, doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2008.04.023

Cheney et al. A wrinkle in flight http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.1286

Corcoran A et al. Tiger Moth Jams Bat Sonar. 10.1126/science.1174096

Corcoran & Conner. Bats jamming bats: food competition through sonar interference. 10.1126/science.1259512

Corcoran & Hristov. Convergent evolution of anti-bat sounds. Journal of comparative physiology. 10.1007/s00359-014-0924-0

Corcoran et al. Anti-bat tiger moth sounds 10.1093/czoolo/56.3.358

Corcoran & Conner. Sonar jamming in the field10.1242/jeb.076943

Eitan et al. Echolocating bats rapidly adjust their mouth gape to control spatial acquisition when scanning a target. doi.org/10.1186/s12915-022-01487-w

Geipel et al, Bats Actively Use Leaves as Specular Reflectors to Detect Acoustically Camouflaged Prey, doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.06.076

Håkansson et al. Bats expand their vocal range by recruiting different laryngeal structures for echolocation and social communication.10.1371/journal.pbio.3001881

Harper et al,  Specialized bat tongue is a hemodynamic nectar mop, doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1222726110

Jakobsen et al. Directionality of nose-emitted echolocation calls from bats without a nose leaf10.1242/jeb.171926

James et al The ontogeny of decision-making in an eavesdropping predator.10.1098/rspb.2025.0450

Kugler & Wiegrebe Echo-acoustic scanning with noseleaf and ears in phyllostomid bats.10.1242/jeb.160309

Lee et al Tongue-driven sonar beam steering by a lingual-echolocating fruit bat. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2003148

Luo & Moss,  Echolocating bats rely on audiovocal feedback to adapt sonar signal design,doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1711892114

Maitra et al. Kinematics and aerodynamics of in-flight drinking in bats. 10.1098/rsif.2024.0616

Nishiumi et al, Bats integrate multiple echolocation and flight tactics to track prey doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.05.062

Ripperger & Carter Social foraging in vampire bats is predicted by long-term cooperative relationships doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001366

RISKIN & RACEY, How do sucker-footed bats hold on doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2009.01362.x

Riskin et al The Evolution of Terrestrial Locomotion in Bats 10.1002/9781119113713.ch12

Riskin et al Upstroke wing flexion and the inertial cost of bat flight.10.1098/rspb.2012.0346

Rossi & Welch Vampire bats rapidly fuel running with essential or non-essential amino acids from a blood meal. 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0453

Schutt. Digital morphology in the Chiroptera: the passive digital lock. 10.1159/000147544

Sterbing-D’Angelo et al. Functional role of airflow-sensing hairs on the bat wing. 10.1152/jn.00261.2016

Stidsholt et al. Echolocating bats prefer a high risk-high gain foraging strategy to increase prey profitability.10.7554/eLife.84190

Swartz, S et al A bird? A plane? No, it’s a bat10.1017/CBO9781139045599.010

Tschapka et al. Nectar uptake in bats using a pumping-tongue mechanism.10.1126/sciadv.1500525

Teshima et al. Analysis of echolocation behavior of bats in “echo space” using acoustic simulation.10.1186/s12915-022-01253-y

Yoshida et al. Doppler detection triggers instantaneous escape behavior in scanning bats.10.1016/j.isci.2024.109222

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Written by Ze Frank

Comments

This post currently has 37 comments.

  7. @kroepkroep

    December 11, 2025 at 7:11 pm

    Dude I love that fact that we get to see this amazing footage made by the science hippies and has a clear and understandable explanaition. THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH FRANK!!!!

  9. @benzionrakow7819

    December 11, 2025 at 7:11 pm

    It almost feels unreal that content like this exists in the world.

    High-level scientific knowledge in humorously accessible with sharp writing and spectacular photography.
    Me personally as a neurobiologist but also a big stoner this is simply the perfect content to watch late at night with some fatyy

  12. @bloodmutt

    December 11, 2025 at 7:11 pm

    Bats have a higher percentage of having rabies than what you said, it's 5-7%. They are also 34% of all rabies cases in the USA. There is also more cases annually than what you said, around 1400 in 2024. They also have the highest kill count with rabies in the USA. In the grand scheme of things this is relatively small, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Rabies is a hell of a disease.

  29. @Reeper6469

    December 11, 2025 at 7:11 pm

    Idk how or when but I swear that I will use "Where'd you learn to blow? Suck school?" As often as possible. That made me laugh so hard I got tears. Idk but thank you for that genius line.

  31. @psymcdad8151

    December 11, 2025 at 7:11 pm

    I came for Ze Frank Comedy, but holy gosh, those Bat-Flying shots are interesting a f! …No, I am not crawling down a rabbit hole on Bat-Science right now! … Stop looking at me! >.> …

  35. @johngrissom9147

    December 11, 2025 at 7:11 pm

    I'm 67 now and camping out on Horse Peak mountain outside of Datil New Mexico on my property since June 1st of 2019 and I can still talk them up here also but there are not as many up here at 7500ft where I camp out !

  36. @johngrissom9147

    December 11, 2025 at 7:11 pm

    I used to chirp at bats when I was a kid down in Terlingua ranch sleeping on the hood of my truck and they would hover a few inches in front of my face and 40 years later I was down there and did it while someone else was next to me and they freaked out !!!

Comments are closed.

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