Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants that lure unsuspecting insects into their digestive juices using foul smells. But first they have to find a good, stinky perfume to entice the animals in. Luckily, in nature there are plenty of things that might smell appetizing to insects, including animal droppings. But how to get the animals to cooperate?
"With these structures, the plants are able to acoustically stand out from their environments so that bats can easily find them," Michael Schöner, one of the authors said. "Moreover, the bats are clearly able to distinguish their plant partner from other plants that are similar in shape but lack the conspicuous reflector."
But why would a bat want to go into the mouth of a pitcher plant? Unlike insects, the bat isn't flying towards its doom. In previous studies the scientists found that the pitcher plant was the perfect shape for a bat to fly in and take a rest. The bat is too large to fall into the much of digestive juices and fecal offerings at the base of the plant. In this case, almost everyone wins. The plants get bat poop which helps attract food, and the bats get shelter. The insects, unfortunately, are out of luck.