Fringe-lipped bats live in the tropical forests of Central and South America, from Costa Rica to Brazil. During the daytime, they roost in groups of up to 50 individuals. In the evening, they fly out from their roosts to hunt for one of their favorite foods, frogs and toads.
Like many kinds of bats, they have a highly acute sense of hearing, and use echolocation to navigate through the dense forest at night. But they also have the unusual ability to hunt by eavesdropping on the loud calls frogs and toads make to attract a mate. Some frog and toad species are delicious for the bat, but others are too large to eat, or produce poisonous toxins that make them unpalatable.
Studies have shown that bats can tell palatable and unpalatable species apart from their calls. Biologists were interested in learning how bats tell the difference between them. Is this an innate ability they are born with, or must they learn it by experience?
In 2025, an international team of scientists working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute announced their findings which suggest that bats learn to distinguish palatable from unpalatable prey through experience. The researchers captured juvenile and adult bats at a national park in Panama.
They played them the recorded calls of fifteen different species of local frogs and toads, including both palatable and unpalatable species. They watched their responses and found that adult bats were better than juveniles distinguishing palatable prey species from poisonous ones. This implies that bats learn their skills and hone them with time and experience. The findings will help biologists to better understand animal learning and decision making.
A special thanks goes to Rachel Page, Sensory and Cognitive Ethology Lab, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Republic of Panama, for reviewing today's episode.
Further Reading
- Palatable versus poisonous: Eavesdropping bats must learn to identify which prey is safe to eat | ScienceDaily
- For these bats, eavesdropping is a valuable learnt skill
- These bats learn to eavesdrop—in order to survive | National Geographic
- Young bats learn to be discriminating when listening for their next meal
- Young bats develop a 'caller ID' to avoid poisonous prey | Popular Science
Logan S. James et al. 2025, The ontogeny of decision-making in an eavesdropping predator, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Biological Sciences, 292, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.0450