An international team, including researchers from Canberra's Australian National University and the University of NSW, have traced the origin of echolocation by studying hundreds of bat embryos from across the globe.

Unlike other bats, fruit bats - also known as flying foxes - are known to use their large eyes and sense of smell to fly in the dark instead of bouncing high-pitched sound off their surroundings.

Laura Wilson, co-author of the study published in peer-reviewed journal Current Biology, said evolutionary biologists were at odds over whether the species lost the ability or never had it at all.

In a bid to settle the science, the team studied the embryonic development of ear and throat bones in fruit bats, echolocating bats and non-echolocating mammals using high-resolution 3D imaging.

They found echolocation never evolved in fruit bats and evolved several times in other groups of bats, rather than just once from a shared ancestor.

"The developmental evidence pointed towards multiple origins of echolocation," Dr Wilson said.

The ANU researcher said the discovery advanced science's understanding of echolocation, but more research was needed.

"There's a lot we still don't know about how it evolved and how it works," she added.

Australian Associated Press