Researchers, including Vanderelst, conducted a study on wild big-eared bats at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. The research involved constructing a 15-foot-square flight cage and utilizing night-vision cameras to document the bats' hunting techniques.
Bats were captured from their known roosts in the late afternoon and subsequently released into the flight cage. Observations indicated that after an initial period of disorientation, the bats acclimated to the novel environment of the cage and began to feed.
The video footage captured demonstrated the bats' ability to quickly identify targets, specifically dragonflies. The bats were observed to bite the dragonflies' bodies to consume their internal contents. Following several hours of video recording, the researchers returned the bats to their daytime roosts.