When the sun goes down, most birds go to sleep. But this is when many bats wake up and start looking for food. How can they find tiny insects in the dark?
The answer is in their ears. A bat makes very high sounds with its mouth or nose. These sounds are so high that people cannot hear them. The sounds travel through the air and hit things, like trees, walls and insects. Then they come back to the bat as an echo.
The bat listens carefully to the echo. From the echo, it can tell where an insect is, how big it is and even which way it is flying. Scientists call this echolocation. With it, a bat can catch a lot of insects in one night.
Bats are very useful to people. Because they eat so many insects, there are fewer mosquitoes and pests in fields and gardens. So the next time you see a bat, remember that it is a helpful night hunter.