Daily and Seasonal Variation in Non-Acoustic Communicative Behaviors of Male Greater Short-Nosed Fruit Bats (<i>Cynopterus sphinx</i>)

Doss, D. Paramanantha Swami; Nagarajan-Radha, Venkatesh; Kandula, Sripathi

doi:10.3161/15081109acc2016.18.1.010

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The responsibility of the harem males to defend their tent and maintain resources within a close range is an important behaviour, as noted by Marimuthu et al [28]. Such behaviours, including scent-marking and vigorous wing flapping during their stay in the tent, are crucial for communication and territory defence, as reported by Doss et al [18]. These behaviours are not unique to Cynopterus sphinx.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

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Assessing the Home Range, Foraging Pattern and Roost Fidelity of Greater Short-nosed Fruit Bat (Cynopterus sphinx) in a Semi-Urban Environment

S.,

R.M.,

M.R.

et al. 2024

UPJOZ

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Radio telemetry is a method used in wildlife ecology to examine the movements and behaviours of animals, as well as to define their home ranges and habitat preferences. Bats, a highly diverse group of mammals, are recognized for their essential contributions to ecosystems, including seed dispersal, pollination, and pest control through their foraging activities. This study utilised radio telemetry to explore the basic foraging behaviours, range of movement, and roosting flexibility of the Cynopterus sphinx species. A total of 15 bats were equipped with compact, hand-wired, two-stage transmitter radio devices, including two harem males, nine harem females, and four non-harem males. Three groups used TRX-1000S receivers and collapsible 5-element Yagi antennas to track these radio-tagged bats. Our findings indicate that the radio-tagged female bats were the first to leave their roosts, with emergence times between 18:15 and 19:18 hrs. In contrast, harem males emerged last, following the quicker departure of non-harem males. The harem males covered an average foraging distance of 2.4 km (±0.3 km), whereas non-harem males travelled further. Both male and female bats visited multiple feeding sites nightly, with females travelling an average distance of 4.5 km (±0.9 km). Time spent at foraging sites varied among individuals. Males show higher roost fidelity than females, who frequently move between harems and roost sites. The study highlighted gender-specific differences in emergence times and distinct foraging behaviours, underlining the importance of understanding these patterns for conservation and habitat management efforts, which are crucial for supporting bats' roles as providers of ecosystem services.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…It shows seasonal polyoestry, having two distinct reproductive periods per year [17]. The first breeding phase occurs from March to April, and the second occurs from October to November [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Home Range, Foraging Pattern and Roost Fidelity of Greater Short-nosed Fruit Bat (Cynopterus sphinx) in a Semi-Urban Environment

S.,

R.M.,

M.R.

et al. 2024

UPJOZ

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“…Across bat species, olfactory cues provide contextual information to an individual, including territory delineation, mate quality, and individual recognition (Bloss 1999;Voigt and von Helversen 1999;Keeley and Keeley 2004;Doss et al 2016). Thus far, the ability to discriminate between sexes by scent has only been demonstrated in two bat species, M. condylurus and C. pumilus (Bouchard 2001).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…bilineata; Voigt and von Helversen 1999). Male Indian short-nosed bats (Cynopterus sphinx (Vahl, 1797)) and Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis (Geoffroy, 1824) frequently mark their roosts with saliva and gular gland secretions, respectively, during the mating season to attract mates and increase mating success (Keeley and Keeley 2004;Doss et al 2016). However, guano-laced artificial roosts failed to attract more big brown bats than control roosts without guano (Brown et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating odour and urinary sex preferences in the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus)

2021

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Olfactory cues provide detailed information to mammals regarding conspecifics. Bats may identify species, colony membership, and individual’s using olfaction. Big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus (Palisot de Beauvois, 1976)) live in mixed-sex colonies and must differentiate between sexes to locate mates. We hypothesized that odour cues convey information about sex. In Experiment 1, adult E. fuscus were recorded exploring a Y-maze that contained general body odours sampled from male or female conspecifics. One group of subjects was habituated to the Y-maze prior to experimental trials, whereas a second group was not. Bat exploration and the proportion of time spent near each scent were used as preference indicators for the body odour of a particular sex. Experiment 2 followed similar procedures except the odour cue tested was urine from either male or female conspecifics and without Y-maze habituation. Results found no evidence that E. fuscus prefer the body odours of a given sex, but females did prefer the odour of male urine. Non-habituated animals in Experiment 1 were more likely to explore the Y-maze and approach a stimulus scent compared to habituated bats. These findings have important implications for courtship and mating behaviour in bats, as well for designing future behavioural studies.

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“…First, males mark their tents with saliva (Video 2 in the online edition of this journal, which can be accessed via http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/ journals/1568539x; Balasingh et al, 1995) and subsequently fan their wings (Video 3 in the online edition of this journal, which can be accessed via http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/1568539x). These behaviours are much more frequent during mating seasons (Doss et al, 2016), suggesting that males may disperse scent to attract females to their tents. Second, when receptive females scan the available tents in the colony, they land in, inspect, and sniff the tent.…”

Section: Chemical Communication: Scent Marking and Mate Choicementioning

confidence: 99%

Social grooming among Indian short-nosed fruit bats

Rathinakumar

Cantor

Senthilkumar

et al. 2017

Behav

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Social grooming is conspicuous in group-living mammals. Bats are gregarious and may groom each other, but the motivation for such social behaviour remains unclear. Here, we describe patterns and infer function of social grooming in tent-making Indian short-nosed fruit bats. Combining field and captivity observations, we found that males and their harem of females mutually groom and apply bodily secretions to one another in tight clusters. Mutual grooming is more commonly initiated by females, before emergence flight at dusk, and during the non-mating season. The within-harem association pattern suggests males may recognize female reproductive status via social grooming. Chemical analysis of the secretions applied during grooming revealed volatile organic compounds that may be involved in chemosensory-mediated communication and/or mate choice. These fruit bat harems were previously seen as simple aggregations, with limited interactions among individuals. Our findings suggest social grooming is multi-functional, with potential implications for the bats’ social lives.

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Daily and Seasonal Variation in Non-Acoustic Communicative Behaviors of Male Greater Short-Nosed Fruit Bats (Cynopterus sphinx)

Cited by 6 publications

References 36 publications

Assessing the Home Range, Foraging Pattern and Roost Fidelity of Greater Short-nosed Fruit Bat (Cynopterus sphinx) in a Semi-Urban Environment

Assessing the Home Range, Foraging Pattern and Roost Fidelity of Greater Short-nosed Fruit Bat (Cynopterus sphinx) in a Semi-Urban Environment

Evaluating odour and urinary sex preferences in the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus)

Social grooming among Indian short-nosed fruit bats

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