Scientists found that Japanese horseshoe bats living together in crowded colonies solve a noisy sonar problem by gradually shifting their echolocation calls to match each other's frequency

• If many bats are sending out similar sound waves at the same time, their signals can overlap.
• (National geographic photo)Bats rely on echolocation to move through the dark and hunt insects.
• They send out high-pitched sound waves that bounce off nearby objects and return as echoes which helps them judge where things are.