Bats Can Jam Each Other's Ultrasonic Signals 50
sciencehabit writes Just before nabbing an insect, a bat emits a rapid series of ultrasonic calls whose echoes back pinpoint the prey's exact location. Scientists call these sounds 'the feeding buzz,' and they're known to attract other bats presumably in search of a meal. When another bat arrives, it can jam the hunter's buzz, according to a new study, much like someone blocking a radio signal. That causes the original bat to miss its meal, allowing its competitor to swoop in to grab the insect instead. This is the first time that this type of competitive interference among individuals of the same species has been discovered in animals, the scientists say.
Competitive interference (Score:5, Funny)
This is the first time that this type of competitive interference among individuals of the same species has been discovered in animals, the scientists say.
Any Friday night in a dance club should let them review that statement.
Re: (Score:2)
scientists don't make it out on Friday nights. too busy checking out bats
Seems familiar (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
"Squeeeeeeeekeekeeek", same as anything else.
Re: (Score:2)
You forgot the inflection on the fifth and ninth 'e's - you don't want to know what you just said about that guy's mother.
dogs (Score:4, Interesting)
I remember when I was a kid we had two basset hounds, mother and son. The son wasn't too bright. They would both get a bone, the mother would eat hers quickly and the son would doddle. She would then rush at the gate, barking furiously (at no one). The son would run up and start barking too. The mum would then double back and get his bone.
Fair enough, she wasn't using sonar but it was "competitive interference among individuals of the same species."
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
What an actual bitch!
Re: (Score:1)
I have three Dobermans and I've seen the same behavior. One is a very large male and then we have an older female and a younger female.
The younger female will run to a door or window and bark to get something from the male in a similar fashion.But he simply doesn't care because he'll just take the bone away from her when he gets back.
The younger female will bark insistently at the older female until she gets annoyed and walks away from what ever it is she has. This sometimes works with the male. But usu
Re: (Score:2)
Wake me up when your Dobermans emit electromagnetic radiation that confuses the other's visual system. Because that's what bats do, except they do it via acoustic emissions and they target acoustic visualization of their competitor. The bats seem to do what our early electronic countermeasure/warfare systems did, except that they use ionics instead of electronics, and they transduce into the mechanical waves, not electromagnetic ones.
Re: (Score:1)
EVERYONE does this! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
One item that is a possibility wasn't mentioned. It could be simply collison avoidance instead of jamming. Fear of a high speed collsision would make most any animal pause. Is it loss of targeting, or avoiding a high speed crash?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
What the bats do is a ionic-based equivalent of electronic warfare/electronic countermeasures that the modern military uses. Competing for food is one thing, but the fact that they do it in a way that is, physically, similar to what we do when we protect ourselves from other human predators in their vehicles of various sort - that's the big thing here.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Bats are interesting creatures (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
This is GOOD news, not bad news. Just frame the question this way: "Why are bats, being mammals that are not that genetically different to ourselves, able to host radically infectious diseases that they do not themselves catch?" If we can figure that out, there may be some big cures in the offing.
Re: (Score:2)
Because their immune systems have got used to the pathogen, and ours haven't? We carry plenty of diseases that our ancestors would have died of, but we've evolved to survive them. There's no silver bullet here.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Not really - every organism plays host to numerous relatively benign microorganisms, the interesting bit is that they can occasionally stumble upon a way to survive in other host species. Once they make such a jump the fact that some of their "benign to organism A" behavior wreaks havoc with organism B is only to be expected. Hell, you yourself host numerous gut bacteria that are essential to your continued survival, but if they made it into your bloodstream would cause a potentially fatal infection.
Re: (Score:2)
That's Ionic Warfare for you (Score:2)
The humans do it through electronic warfare. The bats do it through ionic warfare. The mammals must all think the same, even if we don't call it thinking ;)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The adjective "electronic" in "electronic warfare" refers to the conduction mode used in the circuitry. Living things don't use electronic conduction, but ionic conduction. Thus the relevant term becomes "ionic warfare", even if perhaps "ionic countermeasures" might be just as appropriate.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe, if you're after a tonguebreaker :)
Reading *WAY* tou much into... (Score:2)
And anthropomorphizing on top of it all.
Look until we can find a way to clearly communicate with bats, or any other species other than other humans, and that is a stretch at times, I ain't drinking this particular glass of cool-aid.
Having been a SONAR technician and having used some of the coolest acoustic toys ever made, I think a more likely conclusion might be:
I find that in a group of bats trying to home in one a single insect they frequently target the same insect and interference patterns are formed c