Experimental evidence for group hunting via eavesdropping in echolocating bats
Dina K N Dechmann1, Silke L Heucke, Luca Giuggioli
1Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, , Alfred-Kowalke-Strasse 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany. ddechmann@orn.mpg.de
Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|May 8, 2009
Summary
Nocturnal bats use echolocation calls to find food and forage together. This acoustic eavesdropping allows social bats to improve foraging efficiency by listening to group members
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Ecology
- Bioacoustics
- Animal Sociality
Background:
- Group foraging is crucial for sociality evolution.
- Diurnal animals use visual cues; nocturnal animals require alternative signals.
- Bats, especially nocturnal insectivorous species, need to coordinate foraging without sight.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate echolocation calls as inadvertent cues for social foraging in bats.
- Determine if bats use acoustic information from group members to enhance foraging success.
- Confirm if bats of the same social unit forage together using these cues.
Main Methods:
- Playback experiments using echolocation calls during prey capture.
- Automated radio telemetry to track bat group movements.
- Network analysis to assess spatial proximity of group members.
Main Results:
- Bats were attracted to playbacks of echolocation calls made during prey capture.
- Group members consistently stayed within each other's hearing range (94+/-6% of the time).
- Evidence supports bats foraging together and benefiting from passive information transfer.
Conclusions:
- Echolocation calls function as intraspecific communication cues in bats.
- Social foraging in nocturnal mammals is facilitated by eavesdropping on acoustic cues.
- This study highlights the role of acoustic eavesdropping in bat sociality and foraging.
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