The bats are nocturnal Ontario creatures. They are adept in hunting insects in the dark using their echolocation. It is their ability to utilize echo that was produced from their sounds. The sound will bounce off the objects that will help the bats navigate on dim areas. However, this does not necessarily mean that bats are blind. As opposed to the common misconception, the bats actually have pretty good eyesight that is comparable to human.

Bats Are Using Their Eyes to Hunt

There are about 1,000 species of California bats and all of them are distinct. Some of them prefer the taste of nectars, others love to eat insect, while there are few who will drink blood. During some circumstances, study shows that bats may prefer to use their eyes when hunting for insects. Furthermore, most of the fruit bats that love to drink nectar rather than to grind insects are not using echolocation. These types of bats have been proven to have an amazing visual capacity. There are also others that can discern the ultraviolet lights. 

Different Visual Abilities

The different species of bats have evolved in a different manner. This has resulted in a varying visual ability. In a California research that was released last 2009, they discovered that the two bats located in Central and South America; Carollia perspicillata and Glossophaga soricina, possess visual receptors. This allows them to have a good vision during the daylight and to discern colors. These visual receptors may have the capacity to see color wavelengths and ultraviolet lights that are beyond the capacity of the human eye. 

How Bats Use Their Visual Ability

Visual receptors have been proven beneficial to bats especially for the type of California bats who prefer the taste of nectar. Most of the flowers have the ability to reflect UV light that makes it easy for the bats to look for their potential food source. The combination of echolocation and their visual receptors is indeed an excellent blend. Based on the study that was conducted last 2015, the bats will use their echolocation ability in dark areas. Nonetheless, they still produce that sound when they are in the bright lights. Their echolocation ability will be sped-up when they are landing. This suggests that they are using the information that they see to estimate the distance appropriately.

Even the Ontario bats that will hunt insects will use their vision if possible. According to the experts, the Plecotus auritus will prefer to hunt their prey in a manner that utilizes both their sonar and visual ability. They also prefer to use their visual input rather than the sonar. The little brown bats which are the most frequent type of bats that you will find in North America also have visual receptors. They are using this to navigate and to avoid the predators.

Bats have an amazing sense of sight that allows them to survive in their perilous environment. In case you heard someone calling you that you are blind like a bat, you might want to think about the visual prowess of this creature first.