Scientists may have solved the mystery of a bat with an extremely large
nose, according to a new study. The oversized feature could help the
bat sharpen its sonar.
The Bourret's horseshoe bat, or Rhinolophus paradoxolophus, was
discovered 58 years ago in Southeast Asia and named for its strange
facial trait. The bat
has a roughly 9-millimeter-long nose (a third of an inch), while other
species of horseshoe bats have a nose that is about half that size,
said researcher Rolf Mueller, an associate professor of mechanical
engineering at Virginia Tech and director of the Bio-inspired
Technology Laboratory in Danville, Va.
"This nose is so much larger
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