Foraging Behavior and Prey Selection by Large Slit-Faced Bats (Nycteris grandis; Chiroptera: Nycteridae)

Fenton, M. Brock; Swanepoel, C. M.; Brigham, R. Mark; Cebeck, J.; Hickey, M. Brian C.

doi:10.2307/2388713

Cited by 31 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…For example, buildings are often used by bats as a shelter to digest food items gathered during their most recent foraging bout (Ormsbee et al 2007). This behavior has been observed in many species, including tropical carnivorous species such as the greater false vampire bat, Megaderma lyra, in India (Subbaraj and Balasingh 1996), and the greater slit-faced bat, Nycteris grandis, in southern Africa (Fenton et al 1990) as well as temperate insectivorous bats such as Leisler's bat, Nyctalus leisleri, in Europe (Shiel et al 1999), and the pallid bat, Antrozous pallidus, in the USA (Lewis 1994). In general, the temporary use of buildings by foraging bats may be the first step toward a more permanent occupation of buildings.…”

Section: Buildings As Shelters During Foraging Boutsmentioning

confidence: 78%

Bats and Buildings: The Conservation of Synanthropic Bats

Voigt

Phelps

Aguirre

et al. 2015

Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World

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Humans have shared buildings with bats for thousands of years, probably as early as first humans built primitive huts. Indeed, many bat species can be defined as synanthropic, i.e., they have a strong ecological association with humans. Bats have been observed using buildings as roosting and foraging sites, temporary shelters, for reproduction and hibernation. A synanthropic lifestyle may result in direct fitness benefits owing to energetic advantages in warmer roosts, which may ultimately lead to more rapid gestation and faster development of juveniles, or by being less exposed to natural predators in urban environments. All

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Section: Buildings As Shelters During Foraging Boutsmentioning

confidence: 78%

Bats and Buildings: The Conservation of Synanthropic Bats

Voigt

Phelps

Aguirre

et al. 2015

Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World

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“…While some bats alternate between these two strategies, others do not (Fenton, 1990), and variation in strategy often coincides Simpson, 1980). with considerable variation in diet (e.g., Fenton et al, 1990;Audet et al, 1991). The third variation in feeding behaviour is the tendency of many species of animal-eating bats to concentrate their hunting in swarms of insects (e.g.…”

Section: The Origin Of Blood-feedingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wounds and the origin of blood-feeding in bats

Fenton¹

1992

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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This new theory about the origin of blood-feeding in bats is based on four main premises: (1) that the diets and feeding behaviour of some bats have always varied; (2) that the Miocene mammal fauna of South America included many large ( 2 2 kg body mass) forms; (3) that wounds offered protovampaire bats the opportunity to feed on blood; and (4) that sharp, strong upper incisor teeth were a prerequisite to feeding at wounds. This theory proposes that variation in feeding behaviour led protovampire bats to feed on concentrations of insect larvae at wounds on large mammals, thence to insects and body fluids, and finally to blood. The chiropteran family Phyllostomidae is confined to the New World and its members frequently have robust upper incisor teeth and flexible foraging behaviour. Elsewhere in the world, bats with flexible foraging behaviour lack robust incisors, while those with robust incisors are more conservative in their foraging. The wound theory of the origin of blood-feeding in bats takes into account their anatomy and foraging behaviour as well as the availability of large prey. In contrast to earlier theories that blood-feeding in bats originated from fruit-eaters with robust incisors or through the gleaning of ectoparasites, the wound theory also explains why vampire bats occur only in the New World.

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“…Nycteris grandis Fenton et al . , ). In both cases, identification of prey is limited to order or family and small, soft bodied prey may be overlooked (Clare et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The diet of Myotis lucifugus across Canada: assessing foraging quality and diet variability

et al. 2013

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Variation in prey resources influences the diet and behaviour of predators. When prey become limiting, predators may travel farther to find preferred food or adjust to existing local resources. When predators are habitat limited, local resource abundance impacts foraging success. We analysed the diet of Myotis lucifugus (little brown bats) from Nova Scotia (eastern Canada) to the Northwest Territories (north-western Canada). This distribution includes extremes of season length and temperature and encompasses colonies on rural monoculture farms, and in urban and unmodified areas. We recognized nearly 600 distinct species of prey, of which ≈30% could be identified using reference sequence libraries. We found a higher than expected use of lepidopterans, which comprised a range of dietary richness from ≈35% early in the summer to ≈55% by late summer. Diptera were the second largest prey group consumed, representing ≈45% of dietary diversity early in the summer. We observed extreme local dietary variability and variation among seasons and years. Based on the species of insects that were consumed, we observed that two locations support prey species with extremely low pollution and acidification tolerances, suggesting that these are areas without environmental contamination. We conclude that there is significant local population variability in little brown bat diet that is likely driven by seasonal and geographical changes in insect diversity, and that this prey may be a good indicator of environment quality.

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Foraging Behavior and Prey Selection by Large Slit-Faced Bats (Nycteris grandis; Chiroptera: Nycteridae)

Cited by 31 publications

References 0 publications

Bats and Buildings: The Conservation of Synanthropic Bats

Bats and Buildings: The Conservation of Synanthropic Bats

Wounds and the origin of blood-feeding in bats

The diet of Myotis lucifugus across Canada: assessing foraging quality and diet variability

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