Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 20 December 1974:
Vol. 186. no. 4169, pp. 1130 - 1132
DOI: 10.1126/science.186.4169.1130
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Target Structure and Echo Spectral Discrimination by Echolocating Bats

J. A. Simmons 1, W. A. Lavender 1, B. A. Lavender 1, C. A. Doroshow 1, S. W. Kiefer 1, R. Livingston 1, A. C. Scallet 1, and D. E. Crowley 2

1 Department of Psychology, Washington University, Saint Louis, Missouri 63130
2 Department of Otolaryngology, Washington University Medical School, Saint Louis, Missouri 63130

Echolocating bats can use sonar to discriminate among targets which reflect echoes differing in spectral distribution of energy but not in overall intensity. They can detect differences smaller than 1 millimeter in fine target structure. Bats may be capable of classifying targets from echo spectral signatures and might thus be able to distinguish among flying insect prey by sonar.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
What the bat's voice tells the bat's brain.
N. Ulanovsky and C. F. Moss (2008)
PNAS 105, 8491-8498
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Time-variant spectral peak and notch detection in echolocation-call sequences in bats.
D. Genzel and L. Wiegrebe (2008)
J. Exp. Biol. 211, 9-14
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The sensory basis of roost finding in a forest bat, Nyctalus noctula.
I. Ruczynski, E. K. V. Kalko, and B. M. Siemers (2007)
J. Exp. Biol. 210, 3607-3615
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Size discrimination of hollow hemispheres by echolocation in a nectar feeding bat.
R. Simon, M. W. Holderied, and O. von Helversen (2006)
J. Exp. Biol. 209, 3599-3609
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Echoes of bat-pollinated bell-shaped flowers: conspicuous for nectar-feeding bats?.
D. v. Helversen, M. W. Holderied, and O. v. Helversen (2003)
J. Exp. Biol. 206, 1025-1034
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Selectivity for Echo Spectral Interference and Delay in the Auditory Cortex of the Big Brown Bat Eptesicus fuscus.
M. I. Sanderson and J. A. Simmons (2002)
J Neurophysiol 87, 2823-2834
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Neural Responses to Overlapping FM Sounds in the Inferior Colliculus of Echolocating Bats.
M. I. Sanderson and J. A. Simmons (2000)
J Neurophysiol 83, 1840-1855
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Echo-delay resolution in sonar images of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus.
J. A. Simmons, M. J. Ferragamo, and C. F. Moss (1998)
PNAS 95, 12647-12652
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Perception of echo phase information in bat sonar.
J. Simmons (1979)
Science 204, 1336-1338
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)