The bat also preys with its eyes, not just its ears

This is the conclusion of researchers who observed white bats in Germany. There are some bats with a wingspan of about 40 centimeters in Finland as well, but they are more common further south in Europe.

The Germans researchers attached tiny sound, light and motion detectors to twenty individuals and followed their flights in different lighting conditions from early at night to the wee hours.

They compared the bats’ habits in the darkest and lightest conditions they encountered at that time. However, visits in the brightness of street lamps were excluded from the analysis.

In the twilight, the creatures scurried after their prey more frantically than in the dark, but let out their sonar sounds at a slower pace.

That suggests that seeing helped make decisions more effectively, the researchers reasoned in their report to the US National Academy of Sciences In Pnas magazine.

With the help of two senses, the bat either located the prey more easily or flew more easily in the catching situation than relying on hearing alone.

By bats have been known to use their eyes for general perception of the environment. However, it has been thought that the ability wouldn’t work for nocturnal predators, because in the dark they can’t see far enough or sharp enough.

But many leatherwings prefer to chase insects in the twilight of the early night. That’s exactly what its sense of sight is best adapted to, the researchers point out in their research article.