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![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() We used a computer simulation approach that we had first developed in 2017 to study the attack behaviours of peregrine falcons. Next, my team analysed how the hawks steered their line of attack. But recreating a behaviour is only the first step towards understanding its mechanics. High-definition video cameras placed strategically around the mouth of the bat cave allowed my team to reconstruct the 3D trajectories of the hawks and the bats they attacked. How do hawks steer clear of the confusion effect that bewilders us humans when watching a swarm? To answer this question, we filmed the hawks as they plunged into the stream of bats flowing from a cathedral-like cave. My team found the hawks seemed unfazed by the confusion effect. The bats fly much slower as they leave their cave compared to open airspace (they can reach speeds of nearly 100 mph if the area is clear). Swainson’s hawks tend to attack the Mexican free-tailed bats they feed on as the bats emerge in swarms from their cave. Humans get disorientated in this way by large groups of objects and animals too. It can also confuse the predator and make it harder for them to track a target. Moving in a group dilutes an individual’s risk of being attacked. Prey animals often find safety in numbers, and bats are no exception. My team’s study was done in collaboration with bat scientist Laura Kloepper (University of New Hampshire). Studying these behaviours in a remote corner of the Chihuahuan Desert (which stretches from the southwest US to Mexico) has been a highlight of my almost 25-year career as a biologist studying animal flight. But the aerial antics of the birds of prey that hunt them are just as astonishing. Swarms can be so dense they resemble rising smoke at a distance. The sight of hundreds of thousands of bats streaming from their roost at dusk is one of nature’s great spectacles. ![]()
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