How a Praying Mantis Escapes from Bats

Although bats hunt with echolocation—making sounds so high pitched that we can’t hear them, and then listening to the echoes that bounce back from objects—a flying praying mantis can hear those bat calls. Then, a flying mantis turns into an aerial acrobat—climbing, spinning, and diving to get away from an attacking bat.

If the mantis couldn’t hear a bat coming, the much faster-flying bat would easily capture the praying mantis. Instead, the mantis often gets away.

To learn even more about this, read Praying Mantis Uses Ultrasonic Hearing to Dodge Bats.


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