Britannica
Sources used in this answer
How can a bat use changes in an echo’s frequency to detect a target’s relative speed?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Mechanoreception
In human skin, specialized nerve endings known as Meissner's corpuscles (or tactile corpuscles) are sensitive to touch. They are one of several different types of mechanoreceptors found in human skin.
Bats detect a target's relative speed by utilizing the Doppler effect, which is a change in the perceived frequency of a sound caused by the relative motion between the source and the observer.1
When a bat emits an echolocation pulse, the sound waves reflect off a target and return to the bat's ears. If the target is moving toward or away from the bat, the frequency of the returning echo is shifted relative to the frequency of the original pulse. By interpreting this frequency shift, the bat can calculate the target's relative velocity. This mechanism is particularly utilized by constant-frequency (CF) bats, which are specialized to detect these subtle changes in frequency to track moving prey.12