The co-evolution that has occurred between some plants and animals never ceases to amaze us. We all know about plants whose flowers are constructed to serve the needs of bees, hummingbirds, and even bats—but, of course, really selfishly serving themselves by making sure that those gatherers of nectar carry their pollen to other plants of their kind. Recent discoveries, though, stretch the mind even further. A Central American flower has been found to feature an "acoustic mirror", its blossoms of such a shape as to bounce back a unique echo to the high-pitched vocalizations of the bats who pollinate it.
Another discovery from Central and South America concerning pollinating
bats has cropped up. It appears that at least one bat is able to see ultraviolet light
reflected by night-blooming flowers. Needless to say, we can hardly wait to see if some
of our related, Chihuahuan Desert bats can do the same. It does make you wonder,
though, what it'd be like to be a bat—to visualize the world by its echos and
see by invisible light.
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.