Question: Why do you look so different from other bats?

Barbastelle Bat answered on 15 Nov 2017:

Hi snitttrish,

Great question! Barbastelles, like all bats in the UK, eat insects, but barbstelles specialise in eating moths in particular. Most bats would probably like to eat more moths if they could because they are high in energy, but many moths have evolved simple ears to detect the echolocation calls of bats so they can avoid being eaten.

We recently discovered that barbastelles are so good at catching moths because they call quiet enough when they’re flying around to avoid being detected by the moths. Essentially, they can sneak up on moths, and so the barbastelle has earned the nickname ‘whispering bat’!

The problem with calling quietly though is that the sound doesn’t travel very far, so barbastelles can’t ‘see’ very far into the distance. To compensate for that, they emit echolocation calls both through the mouth and through the nose so that they can see across a wider field of view, and they have big broad ears to detect the faint echos from their calls.

So, everything about the look of the barbastelle is design to hunt moths stealthily while flying around at night. It’s a really great example of evolutionary design that gives barbastelles a big advantage over moths!

I hope that answers your question?

Thanks,

Matt