Bats buzz like hornets to scare away predators


Tactic is first known example of a mammal mimicking noise made by an insect

May 9, 2022

The whining buzz of a wasp is enough to send many of us running for the hills. Now, it seems that one crafty species has used that aversion to its advantage. Researchers found greater mouse-eared bats mimic the buzzing sound of stinging insects like wasps, likely to scare off predators.

“This is a fascinating study,” says David Pfennig, an evolutionary biologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who studies animal mimicry but who was not involved with the work.

Nature is replete with examples of sneaky animals and plants imitating the traits of other organisms. The innocuous scarlet kingsnake (Lampropeltis elapsoides), for example, has adopted the red-and-black stripes of the dangerously venomous coral snake (Micrurus fulvius).

https://www.science.org/content/arti...away-predators