Welcome to #BatWeek! While many may think of bats as something that “go bump in the night”, have you ever wondered how bats avoid bumping into things at night? All bats in Zion use built in-sonar, called echolocation, to navigate the canyons in complete darkness and catch insects out of the air. Here are some cool facts about echolocation! · Bats make these ultrasonic clicks the same way we make sound: by air passing over their vocal cords. · Echolocations can be as loud as 130dB, or about as loud as a gunshot or a jet taking off. · To avoid hurting their ears with this extremely loud sound, some species use a muscle in the ear, called the stapedius, to make themselves temporarily deaf while sending out an echolocation. They then relax the muscle to be able to hear a return echo. · If their echolocations are so loud, then why don’t you hear them? The echolocation of most bats in Zion are between 20kHz and 120kHz, but humans, even kids with great hearing, can only hear frequencies up to 20kHz. Some bats, such as the spotted bat or the big free-tailed bat make echolocations within the range humans can hear. If you hear loud clicks on a quiet night, it just might be these bats looking for food. · Every species of bat in Zion has a slightly different echolocation. This is because their sounds are custom tuned for their habitat and food of choice. Having a differing echolocation also helps bats tune out other species that may be flying nearby. · Biologists in the park have been recording bat echolocations and identifying the species responsible. This allows them to map where different species are within the park and helps them track their population. Stay tuned for more bat facts! #Parktober