Bats’ Vision in Daylight
Why can bats not see in the daylight?
Bats’ Vision in Daylight
It was believed for a long time that bats were blind creatures.
However, this is not perfectly true.
Firstly there is a total of two categories of bats. The first one is known as the Megachiroptera. They are not huge. They are regular medium-sized bats. These bats depend on fruits and nectar of flowers and very rarely small animals or fishes to obtain their energy. They have distinguishable unusual optical centers and big eyes. This is so because they have powerful visual and olfactory power that helps them to locate prey.
The second category is known as the Microchiroptera. They are different from the first one as they are very small. Their diet comprises mostly insects. Bats of this kind use echolocation to locate their prey and food.
It was known that the latter category, microbats, have only rods. But recent studies have shown that bats can, however, see very little during the day. Although these are nocturnal creatures, they certainly have a certain sensitivity that helps them to identify daylight.
The nocturnal bats as already mentioned do not have rod cells. So for identifying obstacles and locate preys they use sonar systems.
They execute this by making high-frequency sounds. When this sound is reflected, the bat hears it as an echo. They use this auditory wave to process it into visual pieces of information. Thus, they can see in the dark.
However, the Flying Foxes is one type of Bat. They cannot see perfectly well in the daytime, but they can distinguish colors.
So, to conclude, bats can see in the daytime. They do not have rod cells. But they have a certain sensitivity that tells them when it is daytime and when it is night. However, they use their auditory senses more than their visual senses.
– Written By GODHULI MONDAL
