Microscopic Inner Ear Structures Reveal Why Major Groups of Bats Echolocate Differently
Published:26 Jan.2022 Source:Field Museum
Lots of bats echolocate -- they emit high-pitched squeaks, and based on how those sound waves bounce off their surroundings, they're able to navigate in the dark and find insects to eat. But a lot about how bats evolved these sonar capabilities has been a mystery to scientists, until now.
A new paper in Nature is the world's first study to compare the inner ear structures of the two main groups of bats. By examining the microscopic inner ears of bats from 19 of the 21 known bat families, the researchers were able to show that the presence of extra neurons and specialized ear structures align with a split in bat evolution revealed by DNA.