The wild world of bat noses

Composite figure from Goodwin et al. 2026.

We're proud to showcase the latest from BourkeLab Ph.D. student, Carley Goodwin.

Goodwin, C., Bourke, J. M., Koyabu, D., Armstrong, K. N., Tu, V. T., Ngamprasertwong, T., Wannaprasert, T., & Wilson, L. A. B. 2026. Computational fluid dynamics simulations of airflow through the nasal passages of rhinolophoid bats. Anat. Rec.:1–25. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.70231

Carley joined the lab a few years back as Dr. Laura Wilson and I began work on a multi-year project studying bat nasal passage evolution and their role in nasal echolocation (a weird flavour of echolocation known for leaf-nosed bats and their kin).

Since that time, Carley has been cranking away on these little bats, teasing apart their nasal anatomy in relation to acoustics. This has involved of lot of fun experimentation and frustrating trial and error. Carley has now reached the point in her studies where she can start to showcase what she has found. Today's installment is a bit of a side trek into overall nasal anatomy variation in this large group of bats, but it also lays the groundwork for what's to come.

So, stay tuned for more from Carley soon.