Animals, Plants & Seasons 3-minute video · ages 4-8 · free coloring page
How do bats find their way in the dark?
Bats fly around at night, zooming between the trees and catching tiny bugs. How do they find their way when it is so dark?
3 min
If the video does not start, use the YouTube button.
Print, color, try
Free coloring page
The scene from the video as a coloring page, plus the three-sentence answer, the experiment, and a QR code back to this page. One sheet, US Letter, black and white.
The answer in three parts
Why?
-
Bats are not blind! But in the dark, many bats use their ears.
Bats can see. But even good eyes can't spot a tiny moth far away in the dark.
-
A bat makes lots of tiny, high squeaks.
They are so high that your ears can't hear them. Each squeak flies out, hits something, and bounces back, like a ball bouncing off a wall. That bounced-back sound is called an echo.
-
Big ears catch the echoes.
If an echo comes back fast, the thing is close. If it takes longer, the thing is far away. Echoes tell the bat where things are, how big they are, and if they are moving. It is like drawing a picture with sound!
For grown-ups: Finding things with echoes is called echolocation. When a bat finds a moth, it squeaks faster and faster, like a drum roll, then scoops it up. Bats are night-time helpers, not spooky: they eat bugs that bite people and harm crops, and some bats help flowers and fruit trees grow.
Who else uses echoes?
- Batstiny high squeaks
- Dolphinsclick under the water to find fish
- People's machinessend out sounds in the deep
A tiny experiment
Try it!
Clap for an echo
You need: a big empty gym, a tunnel, or a tall wall far across a field, and a grown-up to take you
- Ask a grown-up to take you to a big empty gym, a tunnel, or a tall wall far across a field.
- Clap your hands once, loud and sharp.
- Listen. Do you hear your clap come back?
What happened? Your clap flew out, hit the wall, and bounced back to you. That is an echo, just like a bat's squeak.
Did you know?
When the sun comes up, bats sleep upside down! Their feet have special claws that hold on tight without any work. To take off, a bat just lets go, drops, and flies.
One little bat can catch hundreds of bugs in one night.
Your guide in this video
I'm Echo, a little brown bat. Let me show you my super secret night-time trick!
Echo is a little brown bat with big rounded ears. An echo is the bounced-back sound that bats listen for. Just like Echo's name!
Keep asking
Next question
Animals, Plants & Seasons
Why does my dog pant?
with Droppy · 3 min
More from Animals, Plants & Seasons
For grown-ups
Our videos are made for kids and play on YouTube. If your child watches in the YouTube Kids app with "approved content only", you can add our channel in three steps. See how.
No ads, no sign-up, no cookies, no tracking.