Bats that walk backwards have developed unusual navigation strategy

image via New Scientist

April 23, 2025, 12:00 PM

• •Greater mouse-tailed bats use their long tails to navigate in the darkness of caves.
• •Researchers tested the bats' use of their tails in mazes, finding they use them as sensors.
• •Experiments showed that anesthetizing the tails reduced the bats' navigation performance.
• •The bats could distinguish between subtle textural differences in corridors to find rewards.

Greater mouse-tailed bats, which crawl backwards in caves, use their long tails to navigate in the dark, according to new research. Scientists tested this by creating mazes and found the bats use their tails as sensors. When the bats' tails were anaesthetized, their navigation was impaired, showing their importance in sensing obstacles. The bats also differentiated between corridors with subtle textural differences to find rewards.

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