Thanks to Their Unique Sensory Integration, the Fruit Bat Is an Outstanding Navigator, Even By Day; For First Time, Researchers Find That Bats Navigate During Day Using Combination of Superb Vision and Echolocation

A new Tel Aviv University study has found that fruit bats use their biological sonar during the day, even though their vision is excellent and would ostensibly eliminate the need for the bats to emit calls to the environment and use their echoes to locate objects (echolocation). The researchers believe that due to the high accuracy of the bats’ bio-sonar system in estimating how far objects are, echolocation offers an additional tool – on top of vision--to help ensure that the bats are navigating as effectively as possible. This is similar to a person crossing the street using their sense of hearing as well as sight to make sure the road is clear.