Nocturnal Behavior of the African False Vampire Bat (Cardioderma cor)

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. American Society of Mammalogists is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Mammalogy.ABsTRACT.-Nocturnal behavior of the African false vampire bat (Cardioderma cor) was studied in bushland in southern Kenya, East Africa. Observations were made with a night-viewing device, and work was concentrated on the foraging strategy. This bat roosts in hollow baobab trees in groups of up to some 80 individuals. At night each bat occupies an exclusive foraging area. Individuals spend considerable time singing and establishing their exclusive areas during the March-April wet season when food is abundant; these areas have greatest survival value toward the end of the long May-October dry season, when food is in short supply, foraging occupies nearly the entire night, and singing is infrequent. Nocturnal time budget is characterized by long periods spent perching in low vegetation and listening for terrestrial prey. Flights to capture prey and between perches are brief and short, usually lasting less than 5 seconds and covering less than 25 meters. Food is typically captured on the ground, and consists primarily of large, ground-dwelling beetles, but centipedes and scorpions, and on rare occasions small bats, are also taken. During parts of the rainy seasons leaf gleaning and aerial captures of insects are important; at these times katydids (Tettigoniidae), locusts (Locustidae), and sphinx moths (Sphingidae) are major food items. Pronounced seasonal shifts in foraging behavior associated with the bimodal pattern of rainfall are discussed, and the evolution of the bat's unusual style of foraging is considered. Although common in parts of EastAfrica and well represented in many museums, the life history of the false vampire bat is poorly known. This bat and the yellow-winged bat (Lavia frons) are the only African members of the family Megadermatidae. The remaining three species in the family occur in southern Asia, the Malayan region, the northern half of Australia, and the Philippine Islands. Members of this family are large for microchiropterans, have huge ears, nose leaves, and broad wings. The only carnivorous bats in the Old World are megadermatids. The Australian ghost bat (Macroderma gigas), one of the largest microchiropterans in the Old World, is largely carnivorous, feeding on vertebrates up to the size of a pigeon (Ride, 1970:160). Megaderma lyra and M. spasma are carnivorous-insectivorous,and Lavia frons is seemingly entirely insectivorous. I can find no information on the diet of Cardioderma cor. 227 JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGYThe major objective of this study was an understanding of the nocturnal behavior of Cardioderma throughout the year. The feedi...

Structure and variability of bat social calls: implications for specificity and individual recognition

“…In N. noctula pups may learn to locate the different roost sites of a maternity colony by following their mothers (Heerdt & Sluiter, 1965). Infants of several species, when able to fly, follow their mothers during foraging (Brown, 1976;Vaughan, 1976). Thereby type C calls may be used as a contact signal, as was detected in P. pipistrellus and M. bechsteinii in the present work.…”

Tempo and mode of antibat ultrasound production and sonar jamming in the diverse hawkmoth radiation

“…Because of their large size and lack of known adult toxins (21,22), sphingids are important prey for bats (23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28). Some hawkmoths possess specialized sound-receiving structures on the head, comprised of the labral pilifers and palps that are sensitive to the ultrasonic frequencies of bat sonar (29,30).…”

Big brown bats and June beetles: Multiple pursuit strategies in a seasonal acoustic predator–prey system

“…To provide a sound track for this second videotape, which was limited to audio frequencies, the bats' broadcasts were picked up with a bat detector (Mini-3 model, Ultra-Sound Advice) that heterodynes the bat's ultrasonic broadcasts against a tuned frequency (set to 28-30 kHz) to deliver an audible display. 1,4 Both of these systems could record video and sound continuously for up to 60-90 min. Most of the present observations were made of bats at distances of 5 to 25 m using a 25-mm lens (1ϫ magnification) or a 13-mm lens (0.5ϫ, or slightly wide angle).…”

“…Until recently, studies of the natural behavior of bats instead were done by listening to bats with ultrasonic detectors. [1][2][3] With some exceptions, 4 visual observations of bats at night took place mainly with the aid of marking techniques, 5 and video records were not made. Consequently, the principal body of information was acoustic-describing the elegant variety and adaptive changes of sonar signals used by different species of bats in relation to behavior.…”

“…The real-time capability of low-light video methods has, in addition, provided qualitatively new insights not possible with off-line viewing. 4,17 Most recently, thermal-imaging video cameras make it possible to watch and record bats without the illumination constraints of other video methods. 18 This paper illustrates different capture behaviors from recordings made with infrared cameras that ''see'' bats and large flying insects from their own body heat.…”