AI analyses nearly 100 million bat calls in largest British mammal survey
A UK survey has used AI to analyse nearly 100 million bat calls recorded in more than 300 English woodlands, in what is described as the largest survey of mammals in Britain.
How it was covered
- BBC One was the only channel found covering it, concentrating on AI bat-call survey, rare species and woodland conservation.
- Channel 5, BBC News, Channel 4, GB News, ITV and Sky News: not found in tracked broadcasts.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story. Facts only one channel reported are attributed to it.
BBC One reported that a UK survey had used AI to analyse nearly 100 million bat calls, a task it said would have taken a human being 30 years. According to the channel, the work formed part of the largest survey of mammals ever carried out in Britain. BBC One also reported that conservationists say the research will help track the effects of climate change.
The report gave two measures of scale. BBC One said monitors in more than 300 English woodlands had picked up more than 90 million bat calls, while the survey as a whole was said to have analysed nearly 100 million. The channel said the recorders captured ultrasonic sound continuously overnight, because bats' calls are too high-pitched for people to hear, and that AI was used to make a detailed map.
According to BBC One, experts described the survey as the clearest snapshot to date of bats across England's woodlands. The survey, according to the channel, found some of the rarest mammals in the UK, including the barbastelle bat. BBC One said bats are protected in the UK, so the precise location of the cave visited by its reporter Harriet Bradshaw was kept secret.
Harriet Bradshaw reported that little is known about swarming, and that researchers think bats may be telling each other information and coming together, possibly to mate. BBC One said it was hoped that analysing the new data would start to uncover some of their mysteries.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| A UK bat survey used AI to analyse around 90 to 100 million calls recorded in more than 300 English woodlands, described as Britain's largest mammal survey. | |
| Conservationists said the bat research would help track the effects of climate change. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
BBC One's report centred on the scale of the AI analysis and the difficulty of studying bats. It used cave and woodland scenes to show how technology can collect data that human surveyors cannot, and it framed the survey around conservation and climate tracking. It also gave space to rare species and the unanswered questions about swarming.
- “it's a task that would take a human being 30 years but now thanks to the use of AI”
- “Conservationists say the research will help to track the effects of climate change”
- “this tech is the answer”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.