BATS AND RADAR
Have you ever wondered how bats, flying in pitch darkness, manage to avoid obstacles?
Recent experiments by scientists have shown that the principle is the same as that used in radiolocation. Cords were stretched across a completely dark room; bats which had been blinded were still able to avoid them, but bats whose ears had been stopped flew into them. It was clear that the mystery had some connection with hearing, but the cords themselves gave . out no sound. So a bat was let loose with its mouth closed by tape, and it blundered into the cords. Special apparatus was then employed with another bat, and it was found that all the time it was uttering sounds twice as high in pitch as the human ear. These were reflected from the highest note which can be received by the obstacle in the same way as a short-wave beam is reflected from an aeroplane in radiolocation, and the creature altered its course accordingly.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BPB19460410.2.7
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Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 61, 10 April 1946, Page 2
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165BATS AND RADAR Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 61, 10 April 1946, Page 2
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