Researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus have discovered how nerve cells in bat brains respond to their environment and social interactions with other bats. The findings, published recently in the journal eLife, provide new insights into the neural mechanisms that underpin echolocation and social behavior in bats.

The researchers used a combination of electrophysiology and calcium imaging to record the activity of individual neurons in the auditory cortex and hippocampus of bats while they were engaged in echolocation and social interactions.

They found that neurons in the auditory cortex responded to specific acoustic features of the bat’s own echolocation calls as well as to the echolocation calls of other bats. This suggests that the auditory cortex plays a role in both self-generated and social echolocation.

In contrast, the hippocampus was found to be involved in social memory and communication. Neurons in the hippocampus responded to the social calls of other bats, and this activity was modulated by the bat’s social context. For example, neurons in the hippocampus were more active when bats were interacting with familiar bats than when they were interacting with unfamiliar bats.

These findings provide new insights into the neural mechanisms that underlie echolocation and social behavior in bats. They suggest that the auditory cortex is involved in processing acoustic information from the environment, while the hippocampus is involved in social memory and communication. Furthermore, they show that the neural circuits underlying echolocation and social behavior in bats are highly interconnected, suggesting that these two behaviors are closely linked.