Bats are blind.
We may all know and even use the saying “blind as a bat”, but while it is a hilarious statement to make when someone cannot see or find something that is right in front of them, it is not doing the bats any justice.
Yes, this is another animal fact that is not actually true.
We all know that bats use echolocation to hunt and “see” in the dark, meaning they make use of their hearing, producing sounds, and using the echoes bouncing off things around them to orient themselves well.
Yet, this does not mean that bats are blind! They do actually have eyesight, though some species may have a better or worse one depending on their location.
Scientists have also discovered over the years that there are bats that prefer not to use their echolocation at all when hunting, relying on their eyesight alone.
And in the case of the fruit bats, a lot of them do not even have echolocation to begin with, so they rely 100% on their sight, which is far from being bad!
So next time you think about bats, do not assume they need glasses!
