Frugivorous bats evaluate the quality of social information when choosing novel foods

Abstract

The ability to discriminate information quality from multiple social partners may be essential to animals that use social cues in deciding when, where, and what to eat. This may be particularly important in species that rely on ephemeral and widely dispersed resources. We show that tent-making bats, Uroderma bilobatum, socially acquire preferences for novel foods through interactions with roostmates both in captivity and in natural roosts and that these food cues can influence roostmates' decisions at least for several days. More importantly, these bats can distinguish between the quality and information content of 2 different cues that are brought back to their roost. Inexperienced individuals prefer food that has been consumed by a roostmate to food whose odor is present only on the fur of a roostmate that has eaten sugar water. The ability of bats to discriminate odors on breath and fur may allow them to select the most infonnative cues about the presence or renewed availability of dispersed resources. This selectivity may help stabilize roosts as information centers for the social acquisition of updated information on unpredictable and widely distributed food items.

The challenge of detecting prey: Private and social information use in predatory bats

“…While echolocation calls, in particular the feeding buzzes, of other hunting bats unequivocally inform eavesdroppers of prey presence, other forms of socially acquired information can be inaccurate or outdated. Bats returning to a roost, smelling strongly of a particular fruit, for example, may be accurate indicators of fruit abundance, but these scents could also reflect a food resource that has already been depleted and thus conveys social information that is no longer relevant or useful (O'Mara, Dechmann, & Page, ; Ratcliffe & ter Hofstede, ). Theory predicts that individuals should selectively use both private and social information, balancing their use of each depending on circumstance (Laland, ).…”

Proximity sensors reveal social information transfer in maternity colonies of Common noctule bats

“…Previous work on bats indicated that roosts may act as information centres where bats may obtain information on food by inadvertent cues (Ratcliffe & ter Hofstede 2005; O’Mara, Dechmann & Page 2014). A considerable part of the diet of Greater noctule bats consists of insects, which fly in swarms and often over water (Gloor, Stutz & Ziswiler 1995).…”

Automated proximity sensing in small vertebrates: design of miniaturized sensor nodes and first field tests in bats

“…; O'Mara et al. ) have been applied to study such behavior. Digital transceiver chips offer besides increased data quality the possibility to include additional sensors for documenting supplementary data on environmental factors.…”

“…Sensor technology can increase data quality in studies on group dynamics in fission-fusion societies or the process of information transfer among members of social groups. Until recently PIT tags with very short detection ranges (Patriquin et al 2010;Burns and Broders 2015;Farine et al 2015) or experimental setups in captivity (Page and Ryan 2006;Clarin et al 2014;O'Mara et al 2014) have been applied to study such behavior. Digital transceiver chips offer besides increased data quality the possibility to include additional sensors for documenting supplementary data on environmental factors.…”