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    Short WaveHow Baby Bats Learn To Eavesdrop On Dinner
    13 minEpisode 1273

    How Baby Bats Learn To Eavesdrop On Dinner

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    Most bats use echolocation to navigate and hunt, but some use their ears for another trick: eavesdropping.

    "And then these frog-eating bats, for example, they are actually listening in on the mating calls of frogs that are much, much lower in frequency," says behavioral ecologist Rachel Page.

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    © NPRLength 13 min14 May 2025Episode 1273ScienceFactsEducationalUSAEpisodic

    Introducing Short Wave

    Introducing Short Wave

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    11+ScienceFactsEducationalUSAEpisodic14 May 2025© NPR

    Most bats use echolocation to navigate and hunt, but some use their ears for another trick: eavesdropping.

    "And then these frog-eating bats, for example, they are actually listening in on the mating calls of frogs that are much, much lower in frequency," says behavioral ecologist Rachel Page.

    But how the bats knew this eavesdropping trick was a mystery. So she set up and experiment with baby bats and a speaker.

    Have a question about the animals all around us? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear from you!

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