Echolocation

Echolocation is a method of sensory perception by which certain animals orient themselves to their surroundings, detect obstacles, communicate with others and find food.

Bats use echolocation to navigate in the dark and find food.

A bat emits a series of short high-pitched ultrasonic waves from its mouth or nose.

These sound waves travel away from the animal.

Then they bounce off the objects in the animal's path creating an echo.

A bat can determine the size and shape of the obstacle in their path, the direction of motion of the prey and also the direction of motion.

This echolocation system is so accurate that bats can detect insects, the size of gnats and objects as fine as a human hair.

Like bats, dolphins also emit high-frequency sound waves and are able to detect obstacles in their path.

Thus dolphins can avoid fishing nets and also detect fish at night or even in muddy water through which it is not possible to see.