Dolphins, bats and the evolution of echolocation


While both bats and dolphins use ecolocation to hunt down prey, patterns of echolocation vary greatly among species. Depending on what they eat and where they live, species produce sounds at different frequencies – from “broadband” calls that encompass a wide range of frequencies, to constant-frequency calls emitted at one particular frequency. Researchers from the UK, Italy and Denmark got together to look for genetic evidence of convergent evolution between these very different groups. Previous research had already determined which genes are involved in echolocation in both dolphin and bat species. While, other studies have shown that different bat species have undergone changes that resulted in strong similarities in the genes that govern hearing. These findings set the stage for Joe Parker, Georgia Tsagkogeorga and others to begin examining the entire genomes of selected echolocating species.


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