Microbat vs. Flying Fox - What's the Difference?

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6. Senses

Bat	Most important senses
Microbat	Sense of hearing, echolocation
Flying fox	Sense of sight, sense of smell

Microbat

Microbats rely primarily on their hearing and echolocation for navigation.

Echolocation works like this: the bats produce high-frequency sounds that travel through the air. When these sound waves hit objects like trees, walls, or potential prey, they bounce back. The microbat then interprets this acoustic feedback to determine the location of obstacles, and it can even tell if it's a wall or an animal based on how the sound waves return.

Give this a shot! Position yourself right in front of a wall and yell something out loud. After that, step back and do it again. When you're facing the wall, you might pick up on how your voice bounces back to you if you pay attention.

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Brown Long-Eared Bat Brown Long-Eared Bat - Photo: Rudmer Zwerver/Shutterstock

Flying Fox

Only a handful of flying fox species use echolocation. Instead, they depend on their excellent sense of vision for navigation, with their large eyes specially designed for seeing in low light conditions. However, their vision is not as effective during daylight hours.

They also have a remarkable sense of smell, comparable to that of a dog. The Queensland tube-nosed bat has the remarkable ability to perceive scents in three dimensions. They have a spatial sense of smell, because they can smell separately with both nostrils, similar to how one can see separately with the left and right eye. By the way, we humans are also able to smell stereo.

Fruit Bat Fruit Bat - Photo: Jeffrey Paul Wade/Shutterstock