To echolocate, bats send out sound waves from the mouth or nose. When the sound waves hit an object they produce echoes. The echo bounces off the object and returns to the bats' ears. Bats listen to the echoes to figure out where the object is, how big it is, and its shape.

Where did the idea for echolocation come from?

The term echolocation was coined in 1938 by the American zoologist Donald Griffin, who, with Robert Galambos, first demonstrated the phenomenon in bats.

Where can echolocation be found?

Echolocation is known to be employed by most bats (all members of the suborder Microchiroptera and one genus, Rousettus, of the Megachiroptera); most, if not all, toothed whales and porpoises (Odontoceti), but apparently no baleen whales; a few shrews; and two kinds of birds, the oilbird (Steatornis caripensis) of ...