How moths use their furry coats to make them undetectable to bats 

Real-life invisibility cloaks are worn by moths: How the insects use their furry coats to make them undetectable to bats

  • Scientists have discovered moths’ furry coats make them almost invisible to bats
  • Found 85 per cent of sound signals used by bats to find prey absorbed by hairs
  • Reduced distance a bat would be able to detect a moth by almost 25 per cent
  • Hairs are actually scales ‘that resemble hairs’, Bristol University led study found

You might think invisibility cloaks are the stuff of science fiction and Harry Potter – but it seems the insect kingdom is actually on to something.

Scientists have found that moths can make themselves almost invisible to bats thanks to their furry coats. 

Tests found that 85 per cent of the sound signals – ultra-high pitched squeaks – bats use to locate their prey were absorbed by the moths’ hairs.

This reduced the distance a bat would be able to detect a moth by almost 25 per cent, increasing its survival chances. 

Scientists found that 85 per cent of the sound signals – ultra-high pitched squeaks – bats use to locate their prey were absorbed by the moths’ hairs (pictured is an Antherina suraka moth)

Moth hairs are actually scales ‘that resemble hairs’ and look structurally similar to the fibres used in soundproofing technology, the research led by Bristol University said. 

Scientists are now looking at ways to use the findings in sound insulating technology. The results are in Royal Society Interface journal.

Dr Thomas Neil, Research Associate from Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences and lead author, said: ‘We were amazed to see that these extraordinary insects were able to achieve the same levels of sound absorption as commercially available technical sound absorbers, whilst at the same time being much thinner and lighter.

‘We are now looking at ways in which we can use these biological systems to inspire new solutions to sound insulating technology and analyse the scaling on a moth’s wing to explore whether they too have sound absorbing properties.’

By absorbing the sound moths reduced the distance a bat would be able to detect them by almost 25 per cent, increasing its survival chances (file picture of a fluffy Periphoba arcaei)

By absorbing the sound moths reduced the distance a bat would be able to detect them by almost 25 per cent, increasing its survival chances (file picture of a fluffy Periphoba arcaei)

Not all moths rely on ‘stealth’ hairs to escape capture. Some moths can hear the high pitched bat squeaks. But the moths studied by the University of Bristol team were deaf, making their stealthy fur coat vital to their survival.

The team from the looked at two species of deaf moths – the Antherina suraka and the Callosamia promethean.

They discovered the scales in the bodies of both these moths looked structurally similar to the fibres used in soundproofing technology.

The researchers then used a technique called acoustic tomography on the insects, which involved exposing them to ultrasound pulses through a loudspeaker and measuring the strength of the echoes that bounced back from their bodies.  

The authors said that butterflies too have hairy scales, but being much smaller are less effective as a sonic camouflage. The research was published in Royal Society Interface.

The study was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). 

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