Bats ‘can predict the future’ while hunting

[Eldorado]

Bats are extraordinary animals — they are the only truly flying mammal, and they are so adept at it that they can outmanoeuvre birds. They also pollinate plants, use echolocation like sonar to navigate through the darkest nights, are known to trade food for sex, and even know to self-isolate when they get ill.

But the latest scientific research into bats reveals these matchless mammals are such highly evolved creatures, they can accurately “predict the future”, when it comes to tracking their prey.

So, while their oracular abilities may not be much use in a casino, bats are very skilled at predicting one thing — where to find dinner.

Bats calculate exactly where their prey is going by building on-the-fly predictive models from echoes.

Full report at the UK independent: Link

Echolocating bats accumulate information from acoustic snapshots to predict auditory object motion

At PNAS: Link