Bats are not as stereotyped1 when they hunt as previously2 believed. New research shows that these flying mammals are capable of making ultra-fast decisions about how to attack their prey3 -- or maybe even call off the attack. It takes only milliseconds. Bats use echolocation for orientation4. They emit ultrasonic5 sounds, which hit potential prey nearby, sending an echo back to the bat. From this echo the bat can define where the prey is and attack it. A new study has examined how hunting bats react when approaching their prey. The study concludes that bats are capable of gathering6 information from the environment and process it surprisingly fast in order to determine how to carry out the attack or maybe call it off.A bat is capable of adjusting its attack until it is approximately 100 milliseconds away from its prey, explains Signe Brinklv, postdoc at the Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark.It is surprising that they are so fast. Until now we thought that bats are deploying7 a kind of auTOPilot in the last phase of an attack limiting them to an unchangeable behavioral pattern.Part of the research team are also Professor Annemarie Surlykke from University of Southern Denmark and colleagues from the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. The team studied hunting bats both in the laboratory and in nature. The study is published in the journal PNAS.
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1 stereotyped adj.模式化的 参考例句： There is a sameness about all these tales. Theyre so stereotyped -- all about talented scholars and lovely ladies. 这类书就是一套子，左不过是些才子佳人，最没趣儿。 He is the stereotyped monster of the horror films and the adventure books, and an obvious link with our ancestral past. 它们是恐怖电影和惊险小说中的老一套的怪物，并且与大家的祖先有着明显的（虽然可能没科学的）联系。
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