How bats navigate in space. The sound of a bat. How bats navigate in the dark. What do bats eat? Flight between wires

In nature, most mice live no more than 18 months. However, such a long period for small animals allows the mouse to go through several life stages. The development of the cub after emergence occurs within 3 weeks, when they feed on milk and gradually acquire hair, which they initially did not have.

Up to 1.5 months of age, the pups feed partly on supplies brought by their mother, and partly on independent “forays”. By this time they already have fur and their eyes open. They mainly use smell and ultrasound.

At the age of 1.5-2 months, the pups become independent and leave the nest, going in search of their own nesting place. During this time, they use the trails that their parents left for them and create their own.

Mice move along the same routes, thanks to the persistent odors of pheromones released along with urine. This property, in turn, makes it easier to find and destroy mice. Urine also serves as a kind of signaling device. When a mouse experiences fear, the smell becomes different and other mice, approaching the place of danger, will most likely avoid it.

On the paws of each individual there are also special glands with which they “mark” the territory. The smell of these glands is transmitted to any object they touch.

In nature, mice are active all year round, but in winter they try to find a secluded place in the form of a haystack, a deep burrow up to 60 cm, etc. Low temperatures are detrimental to mice, so they look for a warm place with plenty of nearby food. The same reason forces mice to seek proximity to humans in their homes and households. buildings. A large number of mice live in stables and sheds with livestock.

Mice usually live in human dwellings only in winter, and not during the summer period they move into burrows in the adjacent territory, continuing their raids on stocks of cereals and cereals.

In a house or warehouse, a mouse primarily identifies food sources. Most often, she chooses the most static and rich reserves, which will allow her to feed for a long time. These are jars and bags of grains, cereals, and crackers. Cereals are especially interesting for mice. In the absence of such food, the mouse switches to soap, candles, cable braiding in household appliances, wiring, root vegetables, dried vegetables and fruits, nuts, etc. Mice can eat almost anything to maintain a fast-acting metabolism.

In human dwellings, mice breed all year round and live for 2-3 years. A female, bearing an average of 10 litters per year, gives birth to a huge number of mice. In terms of reproduction rate, these mammals are among the most productive. This determines the use of mice in modern scientific research.

Mice easily fall into various traps and baits. Mousetraps are a fairly effective way to control their population, as long as it is not too large. When a room is massively infested with mice, the effectiveness of such control is significantly reduced. Poisoned baits come to the fore, which mice actively eat.

The period of activity of mice in nature is the dark time of day. In autumn, mice often run out of their holes during daylight. Rodents living next to humans often remain active throughout the day and even under artificial light. Mice are able to communicate using ultrasonic waves that are inaudible to the human ear. This is how males attract females for mating.

Mouse hearing is very sensitive to sounds and can distinguish frequencies up to 100 kHz. This figure is 5 times higher than that of humans. The sense of smell of mice perfectly helps them navigate in space and choose the direction of movement. Vision in animals is poorly developed and is focused on searching for distant objects. Nearby, mice are practically blind, but they are well oriented in space thanks to smells and sounds.

Great night bat

Lesser brown bat

Spectacled leaf-nosed bat

The closest relatives of bats in the order Chiroptera are fruit bats (flying dogs, flying foxes, etc.) - they simply see perfectly, sometimes even better than people. But Microchiroptera themselves, even those that actively use echolocation, are quite sighted. Bat vision won't hurt at all. Firstly, the animal must at least minimally distinguish the daylight hours from the dark (when it is necessary to start hunting). Secondly, echolocation performed by chiropterans has a very limited range of action (50 m maximum), and if there is a certain level of lighting, it is more convenient for a mouse to navigate in space using more “long-range” vision. Thirdly, as it recently became known, European bats react to the polarized rays of the setting and rising sun and, analyzing the angle of their incidence, calculate the directions. It turns out to be a kind of compass, but not magnetic, but light.

It was originally thought that the bat's retina had only rods and no cones. Recall that cones come in different types and respond accordingly to rays of different wavelengths (that is, different colors). The rods react only to changes in brightness and thus produce a monochrome image, something like what we see on night vision devices. So, it turned out that at least some bats can see a color picture, and their retinas have both rods and cones. Moreover, the eye, for example, of a bat such as the spectacled bat, common in South America, is sensitive to the rays of the ultraviolet part of the spectrum - the eyes of some insects have the same ability.

Sometimes the question of which sensory organ - the eye or the ear - is used to make their way in space for certain species of bats is not easy to solve. During experiments conducted by the University of Western Ontario (Canada), strange behavior of bats of the species of the little brown bat was noted. The researchers placed obstacles made of opaque, transparent and reflective materials at the exit of an abandoned mine where these animals live and changed the illumination in the area of ​​​​the obstacle. It turned out that even in bright light, when the mouse’s vision becomes least acute, for some reason the little brown bats prefer to use their vision and... as a result, they often stumble upon a transparent obstacle. If they had switched to echolocation, the transparent obstacle would have been easily detected.

Contrary to their name, their bat namesakes are not even related to ordinary mice. While ordinary mice belong to the order of rodents, bat mice are representatives of the order Chiroptera, which has little overlap with rodents. But where did the name "bat" come from? The fact is that bats were so named due to their small size and squeak, very similar to the squeak of mouse rodents.

Bat - description, structure. What does a bat look like?

The order Chiroptera, to which bats actually belong, is especially notable for the fact that they are, in fact, the only mammals capable of flight. Now, it’s true that the order of bats includes not only flying mice, but also other equally flying brothers: flying dogs, flying mice, as well as fruit flying mice, which differ from their brothers - ordinary bats, both in their habits and in their body structure.

As we already mentioned, bats are small in size. The weight of the smallest representative of this species, the pig-nosed bat, does not exceed 2 grams, and the body length reaches a maximum of 3.3 cm. In fact, this is one of the smallest representatives of the animal kingdom.

The largest representative of the bat family, the giant false vampire, has a mass of 150-200 g and a wingspan of up to 75 cm.

Different species of bats have different skull structures, the number of teeth also varies and largely depends on the diet of a particular species. For example, the tailless long-tongued leaf-nosed insect, which feeds on nectar, has an elongated facial part. Nature wisely made it so that he had somewhere to accommodate his long tongue, which in turn is necessary for getting food.

But predator bats that feed on insects already have a so-called heterodont dental system, which includes incisors, canines and molars. Small bats, which eat even smaller insects, have up to 38 small teeth, while large vampire bats have only up to 20. The fact is that vampires do not need many teeth, since they do not chew their food. But they have sharp fangs that make a bleeding wound on the body of the victim.

Traditionally, bats, almost all species, have large ears, which are responsible, among other things, for their amazing echolocation abilities.

The forelimbs of bats were transformed into wings over a long period of time. The elongated fingers began to serve as the frame of the wing. But the first finger with the claw remains free. With its help, bats can even eat and perform various other actions, although in some of them, such as smoky bats, it is not functional.

The speed of a bat depends on the shape and structure of its wing. They, in turn, can be very long, or vice versa with a slight extension. Wings with a lower aspect ratio do not allow them to develop high speed, but they can be easily maneuvered, which is very useful for bats living in the forest, which often have to fly among the treetops. In general, the flight speed of a bat ranges from 11 to 54 km per hour. But the Brazilian folded lip, from the genus of bulldog bats, is the absolute record holder for flight speed - it is capable of reaching speeds of up to 160 km per hour!

The hind limbs of bats have a characteristic difference - they are turned to the sides with the knee joints back. With the help of well-developed hind legs, bats hang upside down, and in this seemingly (to us) uncomfortable position they sleep.

Bats, like any decent mammals, have a tail, which also varies in length depending on the species. They also have bodies (and sometimes limbs) covered with fur. The coat can be smooth, shaggy, short or thick, again depending on the species. The color also varies, usually whitish and yellowish shades predominate.

A Honduran white bat with a very unusual coloring - white fur contrasts with yellow ears and nose.

However, there are also representatives of bats with a body completely without hair - these are two naked-skinned bats from Southeast Asia.

The vision of bats leaves much to be desired; the eyes are poorly developed. In addition, they do not distinguish colors at all. But poor eyesight is more than compensated by excellent hearing, which, in fact, is the main sense organ in these animals. For example, some of the bats can detect the rustling of insects swarming in the grass.

Their charm is also well developed. For example, females of the Brazilian folded lip are able to find their cubs by smell. Some bats sense their prey by smell, as well as by hearing, and can also distinguish between “their” and “foreign” bats.

How do bats navigate in the dark?

It's simple, bats “see with their ears.” After all, they have such an amazing property as echolocation. How does it work? And so, animals emit ultrasonic waves, which are reflected from objects and return back through an echo. Incoming return signals are carefully recorded by bats, thanks to this they are perfectly oriented in space and even hunt. Moreover, through reflected sound waves they can not only see their potential prey, but even determine its speed and size.

To emit ultrasonic signals, nature has equipped bats with a specially designed mouth and nose. First, the sound originates in the throat, then is produced by the mouth and goes to the nose, radiating through the nostrils. The nostrils themselves have various bizarre projections that serve to shape and focus sound.

People can only hear how bats squeak, because the ultrasonic waves emitted by them are not perceived by the human ear. Interesting fact: earlier, when humanity did not know about the existence of ultrasound, the amazing orientation of bats in pitch darkness was explained by the presence of extrasensory abilities.

Where do bats live?

They live practically all over the world, of course, with the exception of the cold Arctic regions. But most of them live in the tropics and subtropics.

Bats are nocturnal or crepuscular. During the day, they usually hide in various shelters, both underground and above ground. They especially love caves, quarries, mines, and can hide in tree hollows or under branches. Some bats even take shelter under bird nests during the day.

Bats, as a rule, live in small colonies - up to several dozen individuals. But there are colonies of bats that are much more populous; the colony of Brazilian folded lips is considered a record, boasting the presence of 20 million individuals. On the other hand, there are bats that prefer to lead a solitary lifestyle.

Where do bats hibernate?

Some bats living in our temperate latitudes similarly fall into hibernation with the onset of winter cold. Some, like birds, migrate to warmer places.

Why do bats sleep upside down?

The seemingly strange habit of bats sleeping upside down, hanging on their hind legs, also has very practical reasons. The fact is that this position allows them to instantly take flight. To do this, you just need to unclench your paws. Thus, less energy is wasted and time is saved, which can be very important in case of danger. The hind legs of bats are designed in such a way that hanging on them does not require the expenditure of muscle energy.

What do bats eat?

Most bats feed on insects, but there are also absolute vegetarians among them, preferring pollen and plant nectar, as well as various fruits. There are also omnivorous bats that love both plant foods and small insects, and some large species even hunt fish and small birds. Bats are excellent hunters, largely due to their wonderful echolocation property, which we described above. Vampire bats stand apart in terms of nutrition, feeding exclusively on the blood of wild and domestic animals (however, they can also feast on human blood), hence the name.

Types of bats, photos and names

Here is a description of the most interesting bats in our opinion.

It is especially interesting for its appearance, yellow ears and nose against a background of white fur. It also differs from other bats in the absence of a tail. The white leaf-nosed plant is very small in size, its body length does not exceed 4.7 cm, and its weight is 7 grams. Leaf-noses live in South and Central America, preferring moist forests as a home. They are herbivores and feed exclusively on fruits. They live in small colonies of up to ten individuals.

The giant noctule is the largest bat found in Europe. The body length of the noctule reaches 10 cm, and the weight is 76 grams. Has brown fur. The noctule usually lives in forests, inhabiting tree hollows. You can also find it on the territory of our Ukraine. It feeds on large insects, beetles,... Also listed in .

It is notable for the fact that it is the smallest representative of the bat family. Its length is only 2.9-3.3 cm, and everything is no more than 2 grams. However, it has quite large ears. The nose is very similar to the snout of a pig, hence the name of this species. The pig-nosed bat's color is often gray or dark brown. They live in Southeast Asia, especially many of them live in Thailand and its neighboring countries. An interesting feature in the behavior of pig-nosed mice is their collective hunting. They hunt in groups of up to five individuals at night. Due to their small numbers, pig-nosed bats are currently listed in the Red Book.

This species got its name due to the color of its fur, which has two colors - its back is red or dark brown, and its belly is white or gray. The two-colored kazan lives across a wide range: from England and France to the Pacific Ocean. These bats are found not only in natural conditions, but also in human cities; they can easily live in the attics and eaves of houses. Night for them is the time to hunt for various small animals - flies, moths. Also endangered.

She is also Daubanton's bat, named after the French naturalist Louis Jean Marie Daubanton. It is small in size, its length is no more than 5.5 cm, and its weight is up to 15 grams. The fur color is usually dark or brown. The habitat is the same as that of the kazhan, almost throughout the entire territory of Eurasia. The life of the water bat is closely connected with bodies of water (hence the first name), it is near them that they like to hunt, especially mosquitoes, which are also found in abundance near ponds and lakes.

The Ushan is so named due to its amazing, by no means small, ears. The long-eared bat also lives in Eurasia, but is also found in North Africa. They like to live in mountain caves, where they lead a sedentary lifestyle.

He is also the small-headed bat - the smallest representative of bats in Europe, his body length is no more than 45 mm, and his weight is up to 6 grams. His body really is very similar to that of an ordinary mouse, only with wings. This species also loves to settle in places close to humans.

This species is mountainous, as it loves to settle in mountain caves, canyons, and crevices. It lives over a wide geographical range - Eurasia and North Africa, wherever there is mountainous terrain you can find a large horseshoe bat. They hunt moths and beetles.

It is thanks to this species that bats, which are generally very useful in the ecosystem (at least by killing mosquitoes), have their bad reputation. But an ordinary vampire, in fact, like the famous Count Dracula, feeds on blood, including possibly human blood. But as a rule, various domestic animals become their victims and food supply: pigs. Vampires, as expected, go about their dark business at night, when their victims are in deep sleep. They sit on them unnoticed, biting through the skin of the victim, from which they then drink blood. However, a vampire’s bite is invisible and painless due to the special secret that they possess. But this is where the danger lies, since the victim may die from blood loss. A vampire bite can also transmit the rabies or plague virus. Fortunately, vampire bats live only in the subtropics of Central and South America; in our latitudes, bats are absolutely harmless.

How do bats reproduce?

Bats usually breed twice a year: in spring and autumn. Pregnancy in bats also lasts for different periods of time, depending on the habitat and species. Females give birth to one to three babies at a time.

The development of small bats occurs very quickly; within a week, the cub doubles in size. At first, the babies feed on their mother's milk, and after a month of life they begin to hunt on their own.

How long do bats live?

The lifespan of bats ranges from 4 to 30 years, again depending on the species and habitat.

Enemies of bats

Bats also have their own enemies, who in turn can hunt them. Usually these are birds of prey: peregrine falcons, hobby birds, and also owls. A snake, marten and weasel will not mind grabbing a bat.

But the main enemy of bats (as well as many other animals) is, of course, humans. The use of chemicals in crop production has significantly reduced the number of bats; many of the species are already listed in the Red Book, as they are on the verge of extinction.

Bat bite

All bats, with the exception of the common vampire, do not pose any danger to humans, and they can bite only for the purpose of self-defense.

Why are bats dangerous?

Again, with the exception of blood-sucking vampire bats, other representatives of this order are completely harmless.

Benefits of bats

But the benefits of bats are much greater:

• Firstly, they are exterminators of many harmful and unpleasant insects (especially mosquitoes), which are carriers of possible diseases. They also eat butterflies and caterpillars - pests of fruit forests.
• Secondly, herbivorous bats that feed on nectar simultaneously contribute to plant pollination by transporting pollen over long distances.
• Thirdly, the droppings of some bats are very useful as fertilizers.
• And fourthly, bats are very important for science, especially when it comes to the study of ultrasound and echolocation.

How to get rid of bats

But still, if bats have settled near the house, for example, under the roof, despite all their benefits, they can be annoying, especially because of their squeaking. To get rid of bats under your roof, cottage or attic, you need to follow these instructions:

• First you will need to find a place where bats rest during the day. Then, after waiting for them to fly away for the night hunt, simply cover this place with a crowbar or something else.
• You can try to smoke them out.
• You can spray their habitats with special sprays whose odors will repel mice.

• Bats always fly to the left side of cover.
• Substances contained in the saliva of vampires are now used as medicines to prevent the formation of blood clots.
• If in our culture bats are associated with vampires and other evil spirits, then in Chinese culture they are, on the contrary, symbols of harmony and happiness.
• A bat is very voracious, so in an hour it can eat up to 100 mosquitoes, in human terms, this is about the same as eating a hundred pizzas in an hour.

Bats video

And finally, an interesting video about bats.

When writing the article, I tried to make it as interesting, useful and high-quality as possible. I would be grateful for any feedback and constructive criticism in the form of comments on the article. You can also write your wish/question/suggestion to my email. [email protected] or on Facebook, sincerely the author.

Bats – the only mammals that have mastered the air thanks to the presence of wings. In addition, the bat is not related to the terrestrial mouse either in origin or in lifestyle.

What species is a bat? She belongs to the order Chiroptera, whose name speaks for itself. Why are bats called mice? it was named for its vague resemblance to a land rodent and the ability to make sounds similar to a mouse squeak.

Appearance

Bat, description: most of the animal's body is devoted to the wings. If you do not take them into account, you can note a miniature body with a short neck and an elongated head. The mouth slit of the animals is large, sharp teeth are visible through it.

Some types of bats charm people with their pretty faces, while others the unusual shape of the nose scares me, disproportionately large ears and amazing growths on the head.

The cutest bats of the fruit bat family considered a fruit dog: She has large open eyes and an elongated nose, similar to a fox. Interestingly, some of the names were given based on the shape of the animals’ noses: pig-nosed, horseshoe-nosed, smooth-nosed.

The white bat has a kind of “horn” on its muzzle, giving its nose the shape of a petal. Thanks to this device, the animal's nostrils are directed forward capture odors faster and more efficiently.

No less The bulldog mouse has a specific appearance: on its muzzle in the transverse direction there is a cartilaginous fold running above the nose from one ear to the other. The cartilaginous roller brings the edges of the ears together, increasing their area for more perfect hearing, necessary for orientation in space during flight.

In the face animal you can “read” about the lifestyle and even about mouse nutrition. For example, fruit lovers do not need the powerful locators needed by flying representatives that traverse their surroundings at night. But their nostrils are wider: they search for food based on smells.

Photo

What a bat looks like: see photo below:

Structure

Birds have adapted to flight thanks to lightweight cellular bones, air sacs in the lungs, and feathers that are heterogeneous in structure and function. Flying bats don't have all this, and the skin membranes can hardly be called wings.

How do bats fly? Flight mice similar to the flight of Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine, who adopted from nature the idea of ​​​​the structure of the wing of a flying mammal.

A solid membrane of skin, impenetrable by air, “covers” the air masses from above, which allows the animals to push off from them and fly.

Skeleton and wings

The skeleton of a bat has its own characteristics. Limbs bats are modified: they serve as the backbone for the wing. The humerus of these animals is short, and the bones of the forearm and the last 4 fingers are elongated in order to increase the area of ​​the flight “mantle”.

A fibrous skin fold is stretched from the neck to the fingertips of the animals. Thumb with a tenacious claw is not included in the wing, it necessary for the animal to grasp. The rear (interfemoral) part of the membrane is stretched between the hind legs and the long tail.

See what bat wings look like in the photo below:

Flight

The arm with the wing is driven by several paired muscles of the upper girdle, which to reduce energy costs for flights attached not to the sternum, but to the fibrous base wing The keel of the sternum of animals is inferior in power to that of birds: only one muscle necessary for flight is attached to it - the pectoralis major.

Spine in flying mammals more mobile than birds. It allows mice to be more maneuverable outside the air.

Movement on the ground

How does a bat move? Evolution has deprived bats of strong bones lower belt, thigh and lower leg, leaving behind them the right to fly most of their lives.

Some types of mice, such as vampire mice, have stronger femurs and able to walk on the ground. The support for them is the thickened skin of the paw pads. Fruit bats cannot move in this way and do it extremely clumsily.

Dimensions and weight

Length of a tiny body animals inhabiting Russia are usually does not exceed 5 cm, the wingspan of the smallest of them is 18 cm. The mass of record-breaking little ones is 2-5 g.

Long-eared mice, white mice and pig-nosed mice are small in size. Representative of the latter species considered one of the smallest mammals on Earth.

Large individuals weigh up to a kilogram. The distance between the tips of the toes of the front paws with the wings spread can reach one and a half meters, and the body length can be 40 cm. Fruit bats, South American false vampires, are considered real giants among bats.

Sense organs

Bats' reaction to light: bat retinas lack cones– receptors responsible for daytime vision.

Their vision is twilight and is provided by rods. That's why During the day, animals are forced to sleep, because in daylight they see poorly.

Some representatives have eyes covered with bizarre folds of skin. This once again confirms the hypothesis that navigate in mouse space without using a visual analyzer. Close relatives of bats, fruit bats, also belonging to the order Chiroptera, have cones. These animals can also be seen during the day.

Minor role for animals there was a visual analyzer discovered in a simple experiment: when the animals were blindfolded, they did not stop navigating their surroundings. When the same was repeated with the ears, the mice began to bump into walls and objects in the room.

Bats bring undoubted benefits to gardens and farms. In the dark, when birds are inactive, they massively destroy not only insect pests, but also small rodents. Read our articles about these mysterious animals and what they are.

How do mice see in the dark?

How do bats navigate? in the dark? What sounds do bats make? The amazing ability of bats to fly and get food without vision was revealed after using sensitive sensors managed to record ultrasonic signals, which animals make during flight.

The ultrasound of bats, which is inaudible to the human ear, is reflected from surrounding objects within a radius of 15 meters, returns to the animal, is collected by the pinna and analyzed by the inner ear. Animals have fine hearing.

Nutrition

Volatile mammals have their own food preferences. Based on which product is the animal’s favorite, the following are distinguished:

• insectivores;
• carnivores;
• fruit eaters or vegetarians;
• fish-eating mice;
• vampires.

Read an interesting article about how mice hunt in nature.

Dream

Sleep representatives of bats prefer upside down. With the claws of their hind legs, they cling to a horizontal crossbar or a tree branch, press their wings to their body and fall asleep. Why do bats sleep upside down (upside down)? They do not sleep while sitting: they are weak the bones of the lower extremities cannot withstand hours of stress on them while sleeping.

Sleeping bats, sensing danger, spread their wings, unclench the claws of their hind legs and fly away without wasting time getting up from a lying or sitting position.

Reproduction

How do bats reproduce and are born? Before hibernation animals open the mating season (?). A few months after mating, the world is born 1-2 mice appear, which the mother feeds with milk for 2 weeks.

Cubs bat, are under guardianship mothers 3 weeks, after which they begin to live independently. Ask how long bats live; there is evidence that bats can live up to 30 years.

Exotic next door

For interesting facts about bats, watch the video below:

Bats are very unusual creatures. And the unusual way of their movement is just one of the amazing things associated with them. How do bats fly in complete darkness and not touch anything? This is what we will talk about this time. This question has interested and continues to interest scientists, and bats are still able to reveal their secrets to us and bring us closer to unraveling the nature of the brain.

Bats are not birds, but mammals. Their cubs are born through viviparity and feed on their mother's milk. These are the only mammals that have learned to fly. Bats are zealous hunters: every night they eat as many insects as half their own body weight.

The first question that scientists asked about these little animals was: “how do bats navigate in space?” Biologists found the answer to this mystery only in 1938. It turned out that bats have a kind of acoustic radar. Echolocation ability. During flight, they emit signals of such high frequency that the human ear cannot perceive them. Echoes bounce off obstacles and bats pick them up with their large ears. As experiments prove, by the nature and intensity of the echo they can not only detect the thinnest wire and fly around it, but also “take direction” of a fast-flying insect; The bat's brain calculates the correct course with lightning speed, and it unerringly grabs the prey.

To find out, special experiments were carried out. In a large room, the biologists hung ropes quite close to each other, attached to the ceiling. Then they closed the eyes of several experimental animals and released them into the room. The bats still flew at high speed without bumping into obstacles. This proved that they are not guided by sight during their flights.

Then the scientists covered their ears and mouths and released them into the room again. But this time they flew with difficulty, constantly bumping into the ropes. Thus, a means was discovered to guide mice during flight. While flying, they constantly make sounds so high that the human ear cannot hear them. These high-frequency sound waves, hitting obstacles in the path of the animal, are reflected and perceived by the ears of bats. Their wings automatically respond to these signals, and the animal can change its course, avoiding obstacles!

The latest discoveries of how bats fly and navigate in space were made not so long ago. In 2013, thanks to modern technologies, it was possible to find out that they are able to navigate in space thanks to a three-dimensional map of the area encoded in the neurons of the brain. The results of the study were published in the journal Science.

Initially, the neural mechanisms of orientation in space were discovered in the brain of ordinary rodents and in particular rats. It is thanks to such mechanisms that rats can move relative to visually perceived landmarks. After this, coordinate neurons were discovered in the brains of rodents, which allow rats to create a so-called terrain map. After this, scientists returned to the mechanisms of spatial orientation of bats that move in complete darkness.

Mikhail Yartsev, winner of the 2013 award for young scientists in the field of neurobiology, conducted a successful study of bats. He works at the Neuroscience Institute at Princeton University. His research focuses on the mechanisms of information encoding in the mammalian brain in three-dimensional space. The scientist recorded the activity of neurons in the brain of a bat that was flying in a room. Yartsev was able to discover in her brain the same type of cells that are responsible for orientation in the surrounding space.

Neurons in the mammalian brain provide a map of the area that allows them to navigate in space. Previously, scientists studied only two-dimensional maps. A new object - a bat - allowed us to look into the secrets of navigation in three-dimensional space.

“All animals on our planet - on the ground, underground, in the depths of the ocean or in the air - must have an idea of ​​​​their location in space; they need this for survival,” writes Yartsev. “How the brain solves the problem of positioning in space is one of the central problems in neuroscience.”

It should be noted that a little earlier in the brain of a rat, some time ago, scientists discovered specialized neurons that emit electrical impulses at the moment when the animal finds itself in a certain point in the area, they were called place cells. Other neurons, called grid cells, respond to the intersection of certain nodes of the coordinate system. These neurons provide the brain's map of the area, which helps animals navigate their environment.

These neurons play a key role in positioning the animal in its environment. However, according to Mikhail Yartsev, they are doing more than just determining where we are now. Therefore, a precise understanding of the function of these cells remains to be seen.

Using technology to wirelessly record the activity of individual neurons in a bat in flight, scientists were able to record the neural activity of single place cells of a bat flying in a 6x5x3 m room and see how the activity of these cells changes as the animal moves in three-dimensional space.

The precise mechanism of encoding three-dimensional space in bat neurons is a subject for future research. Another key question that has been raised by this research is how 2D space encoding is modulated into 3D encoding. In 3D space, place cells are just as sensitive to changes in the animal's position as in 2D. Modern technologies will soon allow us to obtain new information about how bats fly and navigate in three-dimensional space.