Echolocation is a remarkable skill that allows animals to “see” with sound. By producing clicks, chirps, or taps and listening to the echoes that bounce back, these creatures can hunt, navigate, and communicate—even in complete darkness. While we often think of bats and dolphins, the truth is that many other animals, from tiny rodents to ocean giants, have mastered this biological sonar.

Here are some fascinating species that rely on echolocation.

The Aye-Aye: Madagascar’s Tapping Primate

Meet the aye-aye—the world’s only primate known to use a form of echolocation. Native to Madagascar, this nocturnal animal has a long, bony middle finger that it uses to tap along tree bark. By listening to the echoes from beneath the surface, it can detect insect larvae hiding inside the wood. Once it locates a snack, the same finger scoops it out with eerie precision.

Scientists call this behavior “percussive foraging,” a kind of echolocation-by-tapping. Research is ongoing, but the aye-aye may be one of nature’s most unusual problem-solvers.

Bats: Masters of the Night

When it comes to echolocation, bats are the undisputed champions. Over 90% of bat species use high-frequency sound waves to hunt in the dark and to map their surroundings. These ultrasonic calls bounce off objects and return as echoes, allowing bats to judge size, distance, texture, and even movement.

Different bat species use echolocation for feeding, navigation, and even social communication. What’s extraordinary is how finely tuned their ears are—they can recognize their own calls among the cacophony of a crowded cave.

Dolphins: Talking in Clicks

Dolphins are another animal that has perfected sonar. They produce rapid clicks using special nasal passages near their blowholes. These sounds bounce through the water, and when they hit an object, the echo travels back through the dolphin’s lower jaw and into its inner ear.

With this system, dolphins can judge the size, shape, direction, and even the speed of moving targets. They also use clicks to communicate with one another, making echolocation both a hunting tool and a social language.

The Dormouse: Tiny Navigator

Dormice may look like delicate little rodents, but they possess a surprising skill—echolocation. Nearly blind, these small mammals emit ultrasonic chirps that bounce off their surroundings, helping them move through dark environments.

Dormice are also fascinating for another reason: they hibernate for up to six months of the year, but occasionally wake up for a snack. Their menu? Flowers, nuts, and small insects.

The Striped Tenrec: The Spiky Songster

Endemic to Madagascar, striped tenrecs are covered in spines that they use in a very unusual way. By rubbing specialized quills together, they create high-pitched sounds that function like echolocation. This helps them navigate and also serves as a warning system against predators.

Tenrecs are highly social, often living in groups of up to 20, and their spiny “songs” may be one of the most inventive uses of echolocation in the animal kingdom.

The Oilbird: A Cave-Dwelling Specialist

Oilbirds, also called guácharos, nest deep inside pitch-black caves of South America. To survive in this lightless environment, they emit sharp clicking sounds and listen for echoes to avoid obstacles and locate food.

Unlike bats, oilbirds’ echolocation is adapted for detecting larger objects—over 20 centimeters across. This helps them navigate through crowded cave colonies and find their way outside at night, where they feast on fruit.

Porpoises: Underwater Whistlers

All seven species of porpoises rely heavily on echolocation. They emit rapid, high-frequency clicks through their nasal passages and listen for the faint echoes that return. Porpoises are capable of switching between narrow, focused beams of sound for pinpoint accuracy and wider sound waves for scanning their environment.

This ability not only helps them find prey but also allows them to evade predators like killer whales. In addition, porpoises use their clicks for communication, especially in social groups.

Shrews: The Smallest Sonar Users

Tiny but fierce, shrews use echolocation to explore their environment. They emit soft, high-pitched squeaks and analyze the returning echoes to map their surroundings. Unlike bats or dolphins, shrews don’t use sonar to hunt—it’s more like a guidance system for navigating their habitat.

Swiftlets: Echoing in the Dark

Swiftlets, small cave-dwelling birds, have evolved the ability to echolocate using clicks produced in their throats. These clicks help them find their way in the darkness of their nesting sites.

Interestingly, they use different click patterns depending on the situation: single clicks to avoid overlap with other birds, and double clicks to recognize individuals. Some species even emit low click sequences when approaching nests, warning others to keep out of their way.

Whales: Giants With Ocean-Sized Sonar

Not all whales echolocate, but toothed whales—including sperm whales and orcas—produce some of the most powerful biological sonar on Earth. Their high-frequency clicks can travel for miles through water, which is denser than air and therefore an excellent conductor of sound.

These echoes allow whales to detect prey, navigate vast distances, avoid predators, and even communicate across long stretches of ocean. Imagine a natural sonar system so strong it works across the deep sea—that’s whale echolocation.

A World Heard Through Sound

From the tiniest shrew to the mighty whale, echolocation is proof of nature’s ingenuity. Each species has adapted this skill to its own environment, whether it’s tapping on trees, clicking underwater, or squeaking in caves. For these animals, sound is more than communication—it’s a way of seeing the unseen.