Modeling bat prey capture in echolocating bats: The feasibility of reactive pursuit

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Publication Date

11-7-2018

Publication Title

Journal of Theoretical Biology

Volume Number

456

Abstract

Echolocating bats are the only mammals engaging in airborne pursuit. In this paper, we implement a reactive model of sonar based prey pursuit in bats. Our simulations include a realistic prey localization mechanism as well as a model of the bat’s motor behavior. In contrast to previous work, our model incorporates bats’ ability to execute rapid saccadic scanning motions keeping the prey within its field of view. Decoupling the flight direction from the gaze direction allows our model to capture erratically moving prey using reactive control. We conclude that the rapid shifts in gaze direction allow bats to deal with the narrow field of view provided by their sonar system.

Keywords

Bats, Echolocation (Physiology), Predation (Biology), Computer simulation, Animal locomotion

Document Type

Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2018.07.027

Language

English

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