Spotlights

[Research News] Cutting Out the Noise: How Horseshoe Bats Adapt Their Echolocation Behavior in Colonies

New research shows that when wild Greater Japanese Horseshoe bats are mixed with captive colonies, they gradually converge their echolocation call frequency to avoid interference.

A research team at the Acoustic Navigation Research Center, Doshisha University, including Dr. Soshi Yoshida, has found that greater Japanese horseshoe bats modify the frequency of their constant-frequency (CF) echolocation calls when mixed with a population using a different CF, eventually converging on the same frequency.The study fills an important gap in research on population mixing of CF bats, providing more information to species behaviorists, robotics engineers, and other innovators working on biomimetics and bio-inspired technologies.


Reference

Haruhito Matsumoto, Soshi Yoshida, Shizuko Hiryu, Greater Japanese horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus nippon) gradually converge their echolocation call frequency to colony members,Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 2026
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-026-01821-5

For more details, please see the website of Organization for Research Initiatives and Development, Doshisha University.
https://research.doshisha.ac.jp/news/news-detail-105/

This achievement has also been featured in “EurekAlert!”
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1137476

Image title: Images of the greater Japanese horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus nippon) in flight.
Image caption: New research reveals that mixed wild- and captive-populations of the greater Japanese horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus nippon) display frequency convergence behaviors in a major echolocation frequency, thereby reducing acoustic interference from members of the same colony and improving species sensing.
Image Credit: Photo by Soshi Yoshida, used with permission
Image link: Original Content
Usage restrictions: Cannot be used without permission