If you’ve ever caught yourself picking up a friend’s accent or slang, you already understand a little bit about vampire bats.

Ever suddenly realize you had picked up certain words or ways of speaking from a close friend? It turns out that humans are far from the only animals who copy the sounds of their closest companions — ...

A frog-eating bat approaches a túngara frog, one of its preferred foods. Image credit: Grant Maslowski It is late at night, and we are silently watching a bat in a roost through a night-vision camera.

Ever suddenly realize you had picked up certain words or ways of speaking from a close friend? It turns out that humans are far from the only animals who copy the sounds of their closest companions—a ...