'As blind as a bat’ a familiar figure of speech that is based on the assumption that bats cannot see properly. Before the 21st century, people used to believe that bats are blind because of their meandering flight pattern.
Well this belief is clearly a myth. Bats are not blind.
Bats rely on sight to find food, avoid predators and navigate to different places.
As a nocturnal mammal, bats have small eyes that are heavily loaded with photoreceptor cells called rods, which maximise their ability to see in the dark.
They have very sensitive vision and have good eyesight that is adapted for low light conditions. They don’t need the sharp and colorful vision that humans have
Bats navigate and find insect prey using echolocation. They produce sound waves at frequencies above human hearing, called ultrasound. The sound waves emitted by bats bounce off objects in their environment. Then, the sounds return to the bats' ears, which are finely tuned to recognize their own unique calls. This process is called Echolocation.
So hence the saying ‘Blind as a Bat’ is not literally true because bats can in fact see and have fantastic vision.
Question of the Day: Do you know any interesting facts about animals?
From one curious animal lover to another!
Stay tuned for more blog posts! - Kie
Image credit: James Wainscoat