...and it's also why they require such large ears, as the long-wave sound is easily scattered. The ears of the spotted bat are the largest relative to body size of any bat in North America. So, spotted bat or GINORMOUS-EARS bat, both are pretty apt descriptions of these amazing, weird little guys.

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Moths have hearing attuned to the ultrasonic range (20-100+ kHz) as a bat defense & the spotted bat has adapted by pitch shifting into the ultra-low range. This long-wavelength "stealthy" approach has a down-side: they can't detect small prey like mosquitoes or gnats... (📷: Bat Conservation Intl)

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Here's one in flight. The spotted bat uses extra-low echolocation frequencies (9 - 12 kHz) making their chirps audible to humans, but ... this is the key bit: INAUDIBLE to the exceptional hearing of the moths they hunt. (Merlin Tuttle, SciencePhotoLibrary)

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From NatGeo photographer Joel Sartore, a visual explanation of why they're 'spotted bats' that also includes the ginormous ears. These little reverse dalmations are native to western North America, from Mexico to British Columbia. They're champion moth-hunters.

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Naming bats must be hard, because they're ALL such weird little guys. I would have named this one GINORMOUS-EARS BAT, but instead, it's called the spotted bat (Euderma maculatum) for the three white spots on their normally dark-grey fur. Just be careful what you say about them, they're LISTENING.

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