Echolocation is the technique that bats, whales, and dolphins use to find food and to "see" their surroundings. They produce a sound, and they listen for the echoes that return to them. This helps them to understand their environment. Researchers in my lab captured six bats in the wild in Denmark, and they brought them to live in the lab for a little bit so we can better understand how they use echolocation.
A lot of people think bats looks ugly or scary, but they are actually very cute! They have little tiny noses and eyes and big ears. They are one of my favorite animals in the whole world. They are especially cute when they eat meal-worms, which is their reward for echolocating when we ask them to. They make lots of munching and crunching sounds, similiar to a cat or dog when they get a treat.
I felt so excited when I met the bats for the first time. I studied bats in Ecuador last summer, so I am allowed to handle the bats and help train them to echolocate. The six bats that lived in our lab were named Sean, Pakis, Stelios (pronounced STAY-yos), Rob, Lily and Michael! Pakis is nicknamed Pakis the Ninja because he is the fastest.
