Scientists have found that bats are able to distinguish between different individuals by their echolocation calls or biological sonar.

According to the study published in the journal PLoS Computational Biology, bats recognize the voice of other bats through the ultrasonic 'echolocation' calls that they make as they navigate.

Echolocating animals emit calls out to the environment and locate, range, and identify objects by listening to the echoes of these calls.

The study also found that the sound of every bat's echolocation voice varies according to the task it is carrying out.

"Our analysis showed that each bat has a typical distribution in the frequencies it emits, probably a result of the differences in each animal's vocal chords," BBC quoted Yossi Yovel of Israel's Weizmann Institute as saying.

"If you think of this in comparison with humans, it's like being able to recognize a person just by listening to the same one-syllable yell in different voices.”

Scientists believe the bats might have a kind of internal reference sound against which they can compare such subtle differences and fly in darkness at high speeds without interfering with the echolocation calls of other bats.

FYZ/TE/HGH