Natures wonders: bats mimic bees and hornets: (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, May 09, 2022, 18:41 (927 days ago) @ David Turell

To avoid being eten by owls:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2319148-bats-buzz-like-bees-and-hornets-to-scare-o...

"Bats mimic the buzzing sound of stinging insects to scare off predatory owls. This type of acoustic trickery, when a harmless animal mimics a dangerous one, has been found previously in some insects but has never before been described in mammals.

***

"While all owls were spooked by the buzzing sound, some birds recoiled more than others. The researchers suspect that the owls’ varied reactions may be linked to their prior experience, as the wild owls that could potentially have had previous encounters with stinging insects had the most dramatic responses.

"Salser says he is curious to see if this mimicry wards off other avian predators in addition to owls. “Just because [the buzzes] work on owls, doesn’t mean they only work on owls.”

"He notes that if greater mouse-eared bats employ acoustic deception, others may do the same. “There’s so much diversity in bats, I’d be surprised if this was the only bat that’s using sound in this particular way,” says Salser."

Comment: bats, as mammals, are advanced animals with active brains. I'm not surprised they developed this.