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Science 4: Echolocation 29 Views


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Description:

Bats can basically see things by screaming at them. Awesome, right? We wish we could do that.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

[Dino and Coop singing]

00:13

Picture it: you're creeping through your house, late at night. [Boy creeping looking excited]

00:16

Everyone is asleep.

00:18

You know what that means… it's the perfect time for you to grab a late-night snack. [Plate with a slice of pizza on it with light coming from it]

00:21

You're being super stealthy…you're basically a CIA agent…the goal is in sight…when [Boy wearing sun glasses like a secret agent]

00:27

suddenly…

00:28

Ah, the lone Lego piece. [Boy stands on a Lego piece and his sunglasses fall off]

00:30

Ruins operation cold pizza every time. [His parents walk in to kitchen and switch the lights on]

00:32

You know what never runs into that problem?

00:34

Bats.

00:35

And not just because they don't leave Legos lying around. [A bat flies in and takes the slice of pizza]

00:38

It's all thanks to a little something called echolocation. [Echo waves coming from the bat]

00:40

To figure out what echolocation is, let's take a look at the word itself.

00:44

We can break it down into two parts: echo, and location. [Coop pointing at a blackboard]

00:47

That's no accident.

00:49

Echolocation is the use of sounds to find objects. [Dino pointing at a blackboard]

00:52

So how does it work?

00:53

Pretty easily, actually!

00:54

An animal emits a sound, and if the sound wave hits something… [The sound wave bounces off a tree]

00:57

…then it bounces back to the animal, and they know that something's there. [The bat flies in the other direction]

01:00

So echolocation is literally using echoes to find locations. [Coop pointing at a blackboard]

01:04

The word's almost too perfect.

01:06

We can see how echolocation works with bats.

01:09

Although bats aren't actually blind, they do rely on echolocation instead of their vision [Bat walking along the pavement with a stick and dark glasses]

01:13

to get all sorts of useful information.

01:15

For one thing, they use it to find prey. [Insect moving on the floor]

01:17

Lots of bats hunt insects, and even though insects are pretty small, they're big enough

01:21

to hit with sound waves. [A bat flies in and picks up the insect]

01:23

Which is good for the bat, bad for the insect.

01:25

…Unless the insect likes being devoured whole. [Insect says this is greatest day of my life as he is carried away by the bat]

01:28

Bats also use echolocation to find things they aren't going to devour, like obstacles. [Bat emitting sound waves]

01:32

The audio information a bat gets from, say, a tree trunk is way different from what it

01:36

gets from an insect…

01:37

…so the bat will know to fly the other way…

01:39

…instead of going for the kill. [Bat swoops down]

01:41

Knocking yourself unconscious against a tree doesn't really fill up your belly. [Bat hits the tree and falls to the ground]

01:45

Echolocation is also useful for finding predators.

01:47

Although bats reign supreme over the insects…

01:49

…they do have to watch out for hawks and owls.

01:51

Sorry, not "watch out" for them…echolocate out for them. [An owl flies into the cave and the bat flies away]

01:56

Even though bats are pretty famous for their echolocation skills, they don't have a monopoly [Bat carrying a metal case labelled echolocation]

01:59

on echolocation in the animal world.

02:01

Lots of marine mammals, like dolphins, sperm whales, and killer whales use echolocation, [Bat drops the case into the ocean]

02:06

too.

02:07

And since they happen to live underwater, instead of emitting sounds through the air,

02:10

they emit them through…you guessed it…the water.

02:12

This underwater echolocation even has a fancy name: sonar. [Dino pointing at a blackboard]

02:16

Sounds a lot better than "Super wet echolocation."

02:19

Oh, and uh…we wouldn't recommend trying out echolocation while you're driving. [Man blasting the horn on his car]

02:22

Probably not a great idea…

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