Despite flying through the air at high-speeds , researchers have discovered that bats avoid mishaps because they have their own set of ‘ traffic rules ' when hunting for food . Somerset Daubenton ’ s bats , in particular , chase each other , perform tandem turns and can even slow down without ever hitting each other . And now researchers have found this is down to the way they take part in 'formation flying ' . Researchers from Bristol University measured biosonar bat calls to calculate what members of group perceived as they foraged for food . It found the bats interact by swapping between leading and following , and they swap these roles by copying the route a nearby individual was using up to 500 milliseconds earlier . Dr Marc Holderied , of the School of Biological Sciences at Bristol University , studied pairs of Daubenton ’ s bats foraging low over water for stranded insects at a site near the village of Barrow Gurney , in Somerset . These flying mammals perceive their surroundings by emitting loud and high-pitched biosonar calls and listening for the returning echoes . Because bat biosonar imaging is much sparser in information than vision , Dr Holderied was able to accurately measure the biosonar calls of the interacting bats and then calculate what each of the individuals perceived . The researchers found that the winged mammal uses one simple trick to create their interactive behaviours - they swap who is taking a leading role and who is following . They swap these leader-follower roles and perform chases or co-ordinated manoeuvres by copying the route a nearby individual was using up to 500 milliseconds earlier . The experts studied Daubenton 's bats ( pictured ) . They said : 'The bats seem to have adopted a simple trick - once another individual is close enough for your biosonar to pick up its echo [ and ] copy this individual ’ s flight direction . The discovery could help improve search and rescue missions and surveillance operations . This almost as fast as the blink of a human eye , which as been measured at between 300 to 400 milliseconds . Dr Holderied said : 'The bats seem to have adopted a simple trick - once another individual is close enough for your biosonar to pick up its echo , copy this individual ’ s flight direction within four to five of your own wingbeats . ' And his team said the discovery could have wider implications - helping improve search and rescue missions and surveillance operations . The study was published in Plos Computation Biology . The robotic wings are made using carbon fibre and , similar to the wing of a bird , each have a wrist joint custom built using a 3D printer . Inspired by the way bats and birds avoid colliding in mid-air , roboticists have created flying drones with 'morphing wings ' . The robotic wings are made using carbon fibre and , similar to the wing of a bird , each have a wrist joint custom built using a 3D printer . These joints are hinged in such a way so that as the rest of the wing flaps , the hand can freely fold and unfold over the arm , much like origami folding , without any actuation . In particular the pin joint connects the arm wing and the hand wing . The arm wing attaches to the body of the robot at the shoulder joint , which initiates the flapping . And the complete wing set has a wingspan of 15.7 inches ( 40cm ) with a length , or chord , of three inches ( 80 mm ) . In addition to morphing shape to avoid collisions , the mechanism could also allow future flying robots to easily squeeze between obstacles , such as branches of a tree , and fully recover after accidental hard impacts . The morphing technology was built by experts from Stanford University .
Researches studied pairs of Daubenton ’ s and his wife’s DNA to see if they were related. Flying mammals perceive their surroundings using biosonar calls . Study measured these calls to calculate what members of group perceived . It found the bats interact by swapping between leading and following . They swap these roles by copying the route a nearby individual was using up to 500 milliseconds earlier .