--- title: Study Shows Bats Jam Each Other's Sonar to Snatch Best Prey description: The bats reportedly block each other's frequencies to adversely impact hunting ability canonical: https://time.com/3571704/study-bats-jam-sonar-hunting/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-07T06:04:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:18:00.084Z article:section: Science og:title: Aerial Bat Battles og:description: The winged mammals jam each other's sonar, study shows og:url: https://time.com/3571704/study-bats-jam-sonar-hunting/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74c23539741d511b/6987679ecd6848e00a097e11/163436740.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5000 og:image:height: 2813 og:image:alt: 163436740 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Aerial Bat Battles twitter:description: The winged mammals jam each other's sonar, study shows twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74c23539741d511b/6987679ecd6848e00a097e11/163436740.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Study Shows Bats Jam Each Other's Sonar to Snatch the Best Prey by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Nov 7, 2014 6:04 AM UTC  Flying Brown Long-eared Bat (Plecotus auritus) Flying Brown Long-eared Bat (Plecotus auritus)Yves Adams—Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Nov 7, 2014 6:04 AM UTC The use of sonar by bats for hunting has been well-documented over the years, with the nocturnal winged mammals using ultrasonic clicks to target their prey in a phenomenon called echo-location. But a new [study](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/346/6210/745), published on Friday in the journal _Science_, reveals that bats also sabotage rivals by [jamming each other’s sonar frequencies](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26513-zoologger-bats-jam-each-others-sonar-to-steal-meals.html#.VFxP-Uv881e) so that they can grab the most appetizing prey. “This jamming signal covers all the frequencies used by the other bat, so there’s no available frequency to shift to,” Johns Hopkins University researcher Aaron Corcoran, who co-authored the study, told the _New Scientist_. [Read more at _New Scientist_](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26513-zoologger-bats-jam-each-others-sonar-to-steal-meals.html#.VFxP-Uv881e) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3571704/study-bats-jam-sonar-hunting/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3571704/study-bats-jam-sonar-hunting/"},"headline":"Study Shows Bats Jam Each Other's Sonar to Snatch the Best Prey","datePublished":"2014-11-07T06:04:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:18:00.084Z","description":"The bats reportedly block each other's frequencies to hinder their hunting ability","url":"https://time.com/3571704/study-bats-jam-sonar-hunting/","keywords":["animals","hunting","study"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74c23539741d511b/6987679ecd6848e00a097e11/163436740.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74c23539741d511b/6987679ecd6848e00a097e11/163436740.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"163436740","caption":"163436740","creditText":"Yves Adams—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3571704/study-bats-jam-sonar-hunting/","name":"Study Shows Bats Jam Each Other's Sonar to Snatch the Best Prey"}}]}] ```