Innate Speed-of-Sound Engineering Revealed in Bats | The Institute for Creation Research

Innate Speed-of-Sound Engineering Revealed in Bats
Bats have the amazing ability to accurately and consistently detect the speed of sound.1 This enables them to employ a complex system of echolocation in the dark of night to find food in mid-flight and to avoid slamming into trees. But unlike processes in many animals that use a system of learning such as birds singing or lions hunting, bats seem to be hard-wired in their ability to echolocate from birth. Research has now shown that this ability is based on an innate system of speed-of-sound detection.2

Every organism must reliably and accurately sense its environment to survive and reproduce. These complex sensory systems involve features that are innate and unalterable, or hard-wired, and enable immediate function of the overall process. Other aspects of creatures contain a learning component that allows for more flexible adaptation similar to how man-made machine learning algorithms function to develop and fine tune behavior.

As Bats fly around at night, they emit high-pitched signals that reflect off distant objects. The echoes from these are then translated by the bat’s echolocation system based on the time it takes the echo to return, giving an accurate measure of distance. Depending on air conditions (e.g. temperature, humidity), sound waves can move faster or slower and the bat is able to adjust and accommodate for this within a specified range.

To study the nature of this system, researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel trained eight adult bats to fly to a perch within a dark chamber pumped full of abnormally high levels of oxygen and helium. Because helium is less dense than other gases in the atmosphere, sound waves can travel much faster through it. The researchers discovered that the helium-rich air interfered with the timing of the echolocation, which caused the bats to fall short of landing on the perch. While this was to be expected at the start of the study, the bats never learned to adjust.

The researchers were shocked, thinking the bats would be able to eventually adjust their behavior. The scientists then raised 11 bats from birth, and when they were mature enough to fly, they repeated the study. Despite the helium-rich environment that the bat pups were subjected to, none of them could accurately sense the distance to the perch when high levels of helium were present.

First, these experiments showed that the environment had no magical selective power over the bats to evolve them to adjust their systems to unnatural helium levels. But most importantly, the experiments did reveal that the bats had an innate reference for the speed of sound under natural atmospheric conditions that could at the same time allow them to adjust for reasonable differences in temperature and humidity. In other words, the findings ultimately pointed to the handiwork of an omnipotent Engineer (God the Creator), in which bats have a specific design plan constructed to solve a specific set of challenges.

References
1. Tomkins, J.P. 2019. Complex Creature Engineering Requires a Creator. Acts & Facts. 48 (8).
2. Amichai, E. and Y. Yovel. 2021. Echolocating bats rely on an innate speed-of-sound reference. Proceedings National Academy of Sciences USA. 118 (19): e2024352118.

*Dr. Tomkins is Director of Research at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his doctorate in genetics from Clemson University.
The Latest
NEWS
Is an Ancient Extinct Tree-Dweller Our Relative?
Human evolution has always been hazy with seemingly as many attempted explanations for how we evolved from animals as there are paleoanthropologists. Evolutionists...

NEWS
Dino Footprints Down Under
Dinosaur trackways1 are once again making the news. Australia is the setting of a remarkable series of dinosaur tracks attributed to ornithischian...

NEWS
April 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things...

NEWS
Human Evolution and the Inner Ear
The vain attempt by evolutionists to make an evolutionary connection between people and ape-like ancestors continues. This time, it is in regard to...

CREATION PODCAST
Defending the Faith with a Rocket Scientist | Creation.Live Podcast:...
How do engineering principles, biological complexity, and a solid understanding of apologetics work together to further the cause of Christ? Why...

NEWS
Aerobic and Anaerobic Hot Spring Bacteria
God designed a domain of prokaryotes called Archaea that thrive in harsh and extreme environments. In 1969, two microbiologists, Thomas Brock and Hudson...

CREATION PODCAST
The Soulless Hominid Theory: A Fatal Flaw in Old Earth Creationism...
Welcome to the second episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit...

NEWS
Humpback Whale Calls Echo Creation
There is nothing simple about the system of communication called language, whether animal or human.1 Human language is a very sophisticated...

NEWS
Mary Parker, Creation Ministry Partner of Dr. Gary Parker, Is...
Mary Parker, the wife and co-laborer of Dr. Gary Parker, went home to be with her Lord on March 20, 2025. Dr. Parker was a popular and effective...

NEWS
Plants Rely on Quantum Mechanics
Scientists will probably never fully understand photosynthesis as additional research uncovers even more fascinating mysteries.1,2 ICR’s...