Echolocating bats rely on an innate speed-of-sound reference
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Publication Date
5-11-2021
Publication Title
PNAS
Volume Number
118
Issue Number
19
Abstract
Significance Animals rely on their senses to survive and reproduce. Sensory systems are subject to a trade-off between the advantage of flexibility that often comes with a cost of a prolonged learning period and the advantage of innateness, which is less successful in dealing with altered environments. Most bat species rely on echolocation—emitting sound signals and analyzing the returning echoes. An object’s distance can be assessed using echolocation given a reference to the speed of sound. Since bats experience a range of speeds of sound, we tested whether the encoding of the speed of sound is innate or learned. We found that bats’ reference to the speed of sound is innate and that it is not flexible during adulthood.
Document Type
Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2024352118
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Amichai, Eran and Yovel, Yossi, "Echolocating bats rely on an innate speed-of-sound reference" (2021). KIP Articles. 8884.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/8884
