Why do bats make a high-pitched sound as they fly?

Question

Why do bats make a high-pitched sound as they fly?

Answer 1

so they can see

Answer 2

Its becuz u know that bats are blind and so they use the technic of echolocation which is that they have to produce high piched sounds that bounces of the nearest object and it will know whether it is going to smash it body on the wall like a bug!!

Answer 3

Bats have poor vision and use sonar(like a submarine), the screeches are used to bounce off of objects and come back to them so that they know where things are.

Answer 4

It is called "echolocation" and it's used to detect their prey and objects in the dark.  This is also why most bats have large ears, so they can pick up the sound as it bounces back to them.

The bat sends out a high pitched sound, most of which is beyond human hearing, it travels out to their prey (an insect, or whatever), bounces off this animal, returns to the bat and tells it just "exactly" how far away and where the prey is.  This happens extremely fast and enables them to capture their food on the wing.

Bats are "extremely" important to our world. They help keep it healthy and strong.  If it were not for bats "we" would not be here, believe it or not.  The bats of the world eat "TONS" of insects every single night.  Think about that, tons of insects every night.  Each bat eats its own weight in bugs every night.

There are many species of bats, and some feed on insects, some on frogs, some on flower nectar, some on fruit, some on snakes and lizards,  some feed on fish, and some bats even feed on other bats.

The Mexican Free-tailed Bats in Bracken Cave in Texas, is the largest population of bats in the world.  40,000,000 bats roost in that cave in the summer.  When they fly into the sky at night, it's like a cloud streaming off into the night as they seek out their insect prey.  It is one magnificent sight.

Bat droppings, guano, is the richest and most valuable fertilizer in the world.

These wonderful animals have been persecuted by man for many, many years, because of fear, superstition, and stupidity.  

If you want to know any more about bats, do not hesitate to email me.

Answer 5

No one has ever answered this question? You didnt even learn it in school?! Bats make high pitched sounds to bounce off the cave walls to direct themselves because they are basically blind

Answer 6

Bats use high-pitched sounds to find their way about. They are nocturnal animals. That is they move about by night. So they have developed their hearing to such an extent that they can find their way by a method known as echo-location.

The blind-flying abilities of bats were first studied by Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729-1799). He surgically removed the eyeballs from several bats to prove that they did not need to see to fly.

In the 20th Century, biologists, using electronics instruments, have carried out experiments with bats. They have discovered that bats find out where to go by emitting high-frequency sounds and receiving the echoes as they bounce off objects. Most of the sounds have too high a frequency to be heard by the human ear.

Bats commonly fly together in groups, but apparently they are not confused by the sounds and echoes produced by each other. When hunting in woods and in the rain they are able to discriminate between the faint echoes bouncing off insects and those bouncing off the ground, tree-trunks, branches, twigs and raindrops.

These tiny flying mammals have been using the equivalent of our modern sonar device for millions of years.

Answer 7

Just wanted to add..bats are NOT blind, nor can they not see well..bats actually have good vision, some fruit eating bats have excellent vision.  Not sure why everyone believes the old "blind as a bat" saying.  Bats can see without echolocation..but using it gives them a much more precise location of prey than vision alone.

Answer 8

bats are nocturnal creatures but their eyesight at night is negligable..thus they emit high frequency ultrasonic waves from their mouths so that they can detect obstacles and prey...they also have large ears to recieve these waves back and create a 3-D image of their surroundings so that they can catch prey and avoid obstacles...the nature of the waves tells the bat if the object is the prey or an obstacle