Calling Bats
Plants may seem quiet, but some use sound to call bats.
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More than 500 plants depend on bats for pollination, including bananas.
The sounds hit a curved leaf.
A bat makes high-pitched sounds as it fl ies.
The sounds echo off the leaf.
The bat follows the echoes to the fl ower.
Following an Echo To understand how a flower could call a bat, it helps to know how bats find their way. Bats use their ears to “see” in the dark. T ey follow a trail of sounds. A bat makes high-pitched sounds
as it flies. T e sounds bounce off objects. T ey make an echo. T e bat listens for these echoes. T ey tell the bat where objects are. T is is called echolocation. Simon says bats may use echoes to find flowers.
A Bat Experiment To test this idea, Simon hung feeders fi lled with nectar. He placed fake leaves over them. Some leaves were flat. Some were curved. Echoes from a curved surface are stronger. T en Simon released the bats. T e
bats found the curved leaves fi rst. Simon wondered if the same thing happened in the wild. T at’s why we are in the jungle. We are looking for flowers that bats pollinate. We want to see if they have parts that call bats.
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