Around half of hawkmoths—another major group of around 1,500 species—can also jam bats. But unlike the tiger moths, hawkmoths produce their confounding clicks by rubbing their genitals together. They seem to have evolved this ability on three separate occasions, with each group repurposing a different section of their sex organs into bat-befuddling instruments. But bats, in turn, have evolved counters to moth defenses. At least two species—the barbastelle of Europe and the Townsend’s big-eared bat of North America—make very quiet calls that allow them to sneak up on moths unnoticed. With their
...more
