Image missing.
Young bats develop a ‘caller ID’ to avoid poisonous prey

Laura Baisas

created: April 29, 2025, 11:05 p.m. | updated: May 9, 2025, 11 p.m.

However, the frog-eating fringe-lipped bat (Trachops cirrhosus) uses sound instead of looking out for bright colors. A fringe-lipped bat responds to the calls of the túngara frog, one of its preferred prey species. If a fringe-lipped bat hears a call, it will fly toward the sound within only a few seconds. As a way to adapt to this risk, fringe-lipped bats have developed a system similar to caller ID on phones. Fringe-lipped bats are not the only predators to learn how to eavesdrop and use sound to distinguish palatable prey.

3 months ago: Popular Science