New tool to ID bat squeaks

Published on 08/08/2012 01:17

THEY are renowned for their ability to use radar to track the environment around them.

Now a bat detector has been created to identify the creatures themselves in a bid to help ensure their survival.

The squeaks bats use to find prey can be used to tell apart different species, and for the first time, ecologists from the Zoological Society of London have developed a special online tool to do the job.

Dubbed iBatsID, scientists believe the echolocation identification tool will be a major boost to protecting bats, whose numbers have declined significantly across Europe over the past 50 years.