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Bats sabotage rivals’ senses with sound in food race 蝙蝠靠聲音干擾食物競爭者的感覺

精英翻譯社轉自http://iservice.ltn.com.tw/Service/english/english.php?engno=956318&day=2016-02-04

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This is the first time scientists have witnessed this behaviour in one species - the Mexican free-tailed bat.

這是科學家首度在一種生物－－墨西哥游離尾蝠－－目睹這種行為。

When bats swoop in darkness to catch prey, they emit high-pitched sound waves - a process called echolocation - which speeds up as they get closer to their target. This well-known skill is vital for them to hunt for food and to navigate their environment.

蝙蝠在黑暗中俯衝而下，準備捕捉獵物時，會釋放出高音調的聲波，這種過程稱為回聲定位，越接近目標，速度就會更快。這種眾所周知的技巧對牠們獵取食物，以及在環境中飛行都非常重要。

Lead author of the work, Aaron Corcoran from Wake Forest University in North Carolina, was initially studying moths when he heard these bat calls.

這份研究報告的主要執筆人、北卡羅萊納州維克弗斯特大學的科克倫，聽到這些蝙蝠呼喚時，原本是在研究蛾。

"One bat was trying to capture an insect using its echolocation. The second bat was making another sound that looked to me like it might be trying to jam or disrupt the echolocation of the other bat," said Dr Corcoran.

科克倫說：「一隻蝙蝠試圖利用回聲定位捕捉昆蟲，第二隻發出其他聲音，對我而言，就好像是要試圖干擾另一隻蝙蝠的回聲定位。」