How Do Bats Talk to Each Other?

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Bats communicate with each other - and the world around them - using a number of different methods. You may hear the bats vocally communicating with each other, but only if you're close or in the very local area to the colony. In many cases these are virtually inaudible - chirps, screeches, high-pitched calls or songs, but you may hear the flapping and swooping of wings during sunset and sunrise. These are the two times of day that bats are the most active, and that you'll be most likely to see them flying in and out of your home, attic, building, etc.



Vocal noises are not the only communication tools that this animal has to offer, however. Have you ever heard of something called echolocation? This is a bat's main and most impressive tool - a little like sonar that a submarine would use, but a biological version of it. In fact, it's actually quite similar to the way that dolphins use sonar underwater, but flying through the air in bats instead.

Using sound frequencies that move through the air (or bumps into something), a bat can find other animals, work out how far away they are, figure out whether they are a predator or potential prey, and even avoid trees, walls, and other natural/man made structures too. (There are a few drivers on the road who could use a similar system ... right?)

When bats use this special echolocation system, they are sending out sounds - high-frequency ones that humans cannot hear - and waiting for how those sound waves bounce back. If the sound bounces back quickly, the bat will know that it is about to encounter an obstacle. If the sound doesn't bounce back quickly, the bat is free to fly ... for now at least.

Those aren't the only messages that a bat's brain can understand using sound waves; a whole string of details is made available to the bat once it has interpreted those signals. It gives bats a way to not just talk to one another in a language that other animals can't understand, but also avoid flying into each other too. It's all very clever stuff, and a far more complex method of communication than we initially believed - they're actually just as chatty as we are.

Go back to the Bat Removal page, or learn about bats in the attic with my Bats in the Attic guide.